Raphael John-Lall
raphael.lall@guardian.co.tt
Children are left traumatised, broken, and needing support when their parents' lives are affected by domestic violence. The Sunday Guardian spoke to two families about the impact on the children after the recent murder-suicide incidents involving their parents.
Jagdesh Kanchan, the brother of Omatie Deobarran, who was murdered by her husband, Amar Deobarran, a week ago in Barrackpore after which he killed himself, told the Sunday Guardian that the children have already started to receive counselling. He said the tragedy left the children–a girl 13 years old and a boy who is eight–in a state of "shock and pain," but they are trying to be in "good spirits".
"Social Welfare from the Ministry of Social Development already came and started to talk to the children. The children are holding up well, and they’re behaving. They’re good right now. But despite that, we still going to carry them to counselling as they need all the help they can get.”
He recounted that the first few days after the death of his sister were "really hard". He said that they left the children behind and he will play his part in taking care of them and giving them a good future.
He added, "Right now the children are with a cousin and we are giving them all the care they need. Later on, the cousin and I will be taking care of the children jointly. We will be there for them."
Steve Jugmohan and Sharlene Ramkissoon.
In March, Steve Jugmohan and his wife, Sharlene Ramkissoon, died by suicide in Princes Town because of financial problems. They left behind three children, two girls and a boy.
Sharon Jugmohan, Steve's sister, told the Sunday Guardian that people have approached them offering counselling services to the children but at the moment, they prefer that the Children’s Authority of T&T handle the matter.
"We don’t want to confuse the kids. The Children’s Authority reached out to us, so they’ll be the ones to counsel the kids. Seeing that they would have to go back out to school, there will be counsellors at school too, and in the future, the school counsellors will help them."
She said that some time has passed, and the children are "coping a little better."
"When it now happened they were really affected, but they’re a little better now. The children have a future and I don’t want anything to hamper them as they go back out to school and into society. I don’t want anybody looking down at them and making them feel uncomfortable."
She said that the children are living with family members and they are being well taken care of. She requested that the public respect their privacy and give the children the opportunity to move forward in life.
Children's Authority intervention
Assessment Manager, Assessment Unit, Children’s Authority of T&T, Vandana Siew Sankar-Ali told the Sunday Guardian that the Children’s Authority of T&T can intervene in these situations in different ways.
The Children’s Authority becomes aware of the incident in the media and gets involved, or the police reach out to them. Once the Authority becomes involved, they send an emergency response team to the scene and to meet the family.
One of the first things that they do, she said, is "psychological first aid” which are services aimed at stabilising the families and making sure that their immediate needs are met. This is to ensure that the children have a safe place to eat and sleep.
Other services they provide include psychological intervention, welfare checks and ongoing monitoring.
She also said that caseworkers are assigned to the children and their families to ensure that the children are recovering and being taken care of. The services offered to children and their families are free.
"If children are in need of psychiatrist or psychological intervention, we refer them to the child guidance clinics in Port-of-Spain and Pleasantville," she said.
She said children tend to be "resilient" and they do recover, but it is not an easy process.
"We are speaking about post-traumatic stress. The child may become hyper-vigilant, they may have bouts of tearfulness, and they may be play the events over and over again in their heads. Many children manifest their stress in a physical way. They may complain of tummy aches or feel physically sick."
According to the assessment manager, this is where "intensive therapeutic intervention" comes in.
"Oftentimes, trauma-focused therapeutic intervention is what we use. Basically, this is helping the child to process the trauma. For young children, we use creative methods such as play therapy, art, music, and sand tray therapy."
She said members of the public who need the help of the Children’s Authority of T&T can call 800-2014 every day toll-free.
The stats
Although the TTPS did not reply to Sunday Guardian’s request last week for updated statistics on domestic violence-related murders, statistics released last year give an idea of how serious the problem has become.
At a media conference in November 2021, Superintendent of the Gender-Based Unit of the TTPS Claire Guy-Alleyne said from January 1 to November 2020, there were 40 domestic violence-related murders, while for the same period in 2021 there were 26 murders.
