kevon.felmine@guardian.co.tt
With the Children’s Authority recording over 504 reports of sexual abuse between October 2022 and February this year, acting director Rhonda Gregoire-Roopchan says there is a need for behavioural and cultural change.
As the authority often places abused children in State-funded childcare institutions, it launched the Residential Care Workers Training Programme in collaboration with the University of the West Indies (UWI), St Augustine Campus, and the Office of the Prime Minister-Gender and Child Affairs at the Radisson Hotel, in Port-of-Spain, on Tuesday.
Gregoire-Roopchan said among the statistics for the five months were 284 reports of physical abuse and 251 emotional abuse.
“These stark numbers indicate a societal problem that requires not only our urgent attention but a dedicated effort to evoke behavioural and cultural change that comes from all of us,” Gregoire-Roopchan said.
Since beginning operations in 2015, the authority received over 35,000 reports of children needing care and protection. Gregoire-Roopchan said it receives 4,000-5,000 reports of abuse annually, and the categories most experienced by children are neglect, sexual abuse, physical abuse and emotional abuse.
While the ethos of authority is to provide a family environment, Gregoire-Roopchan said the intention is not to separate children from their families.
However, it will receive a child if the home environment is detrimental. She said the authority tries to place children with relatives to form a kinship-foster arrangement, seeking to de-institutionalise childcare. However, she noted that some children cannot stay in their family environment. Therefore, it will require children’s homes to be loving and caring settings to nurture children to become contributing members of society.
“I wish to take this opportunity to encourage family members and relatives: step forward and care for your children, who may be in residential care or those who may be received into care. It will allow a child to retain a sense of family and to maintain his or her culture.”
Gregoire-Roopchan said the authority would support relatives approved for kinship-foster care with monitoring, training, funding and psychosocial assistance. She also encourages people with big hearts and a desire to provide child care to reach out to the authority to explore their suitability as foster parents.
Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister-Gender and Child Affairs, Ayanna Webster-Roy, said the programme would advance the strength and resourcefulness of T&T’s child protection capabilities and align them with international best practices.
Webster-Roy said the training would bring to life some recommendations in the Safeguarding Children in Community Residences and Child Support Centres in T&T, also known as the Justice Judith Jones Report. She said it brings the country closer to addressing a cause of concern among citizens. She also wants the training to be available to the public to create a pool of certified childcare providers.
“We may not always deliver at the time you want us to or how you want us to, but rest assured that we have the best interest of all our children at heart,” Webster-Roy said.
Head of UWI’s Department of Behavioral Sciences, Dr Talia Esnard, said there was a multidisciplinary team with expertise in management, economics, political sciences and behavioural sciences, mainly in child and youth studies, mediation, sociology, social work, psychology, criminology and criminal justice. She said the team drew on the expertise of staff and experts outside the faculty to build a programme based on international standards, best practices and recommendations.
Directors and supervisors of children’s homes will receive 70 contact hours, and training and residential care workers will receive 60 hours. The programme runs from tomorrow to mid-August, and successful participants will graduate with a professional Certificate in Child Protection and Safeguarding from UWI.
