The Children’s Authority of T&T (CA) was designed to accommodate 1,000 abused and neglected children a year, but demands for help ballooning to five times the prescribed number, the agency is facing critical challenges.
Insufficient funding during COVID-19 to meet obligations, an increase in caseloads, more children being taken before the courts by their parents for unmanageable and risky behaviours, a backlog of cases and more children displaying suicidal ideation were among the problems highlighted in the CA’s 2019/2020 annual report.
The core functions of the agency, which became operational in 2015, are to care for, protect and rehabilitate children in foster care, adoption, and community residences. However, the executive summary of the 136-page report states that “while Government funding has been steadily increasing, the authority’s expenditure is beyond the actual funding received.”
“This was exacerbated over the period by increasing court orders for the authority to provide placement for children, insufficient cash flow to meet the critical obligations such as foster care payments, gratuities and essential services and supplies for child care, increased number of children placed in the authority’s direct care.”
According to the report, the CA has been operating as an essential service during the COVID-19 pandemic with no additional financial support. For fiscal 2020, there was a budget request for $125.4 million but the agency was allocated recurrent funding of just $66.3 million.
Based on its current staffing and operating commitments, a significant recurrent funding shortfall is expected for fiscal 2020.
The agency’s request to the Finance Ministry for its unutilised development programme budget of $4.6 million to be used cover recurrent expenses was approved, resulting in a revised recurrent estimate of $70.9 million. Still, as of September 30, 2020, recurrent expenditure and commitments for the authority amounted to $81.7 million, exceeding the CA’s budget by 15 per cent.
For fiscal 2021, the agency made a budget request of $127.4 million. However, the approved estimate “is for a total of $69.8 million. The projected expenditure amounts to $82.8 million which is a shortfall of $13 million,” the report stated.
A breakdown showed that salaries for staff in 2020 were recorded at $43,688,459, director’s fee ay $713,540, gratuity at $4,281,206 and accommodation at $5,859,035.
At the end of 2020, the authority’s staff totalled 371.
5,000 cases per year
The report further states: “The reality remains that the Authority was designed to accommodate less than 1,000 cases per year. However, the organisation is perennially receiving an average of 4,000 to 5,000 cases per year.” This caseload continues to be more than the resources received or the organisation’s staff capacity.
“This fiscal, 4,914 reports of abuse were received, with more than 55 per cent of them in the age group of ten to 17-year-olds,” the report continued.
The highest reports in Trinidad were from the San Juan/Laventille, Tunapuna/Piarco and Couva/Tabaquite/Talparo regions. In Tobago, Carnbee, Bethel, Orange Hill, Scarborough, Bacolet, St George, Mason Hall, Providence, Plymouth, Moriah, Arnos Vale, Black Rock, Grange, Buccoo, Lambeau, and Canaan reported the highest cases of abuse.
These findings followed March’s laying in Parliament of the Judith Jones Task Force Report which uncovered alarming incidents of physical, sexual, and psychological abuse, neglect, and exploitation of children at institutions across the country. Jones’ probe came 24 years after the 1997 Robert Sabga Task Force Report which highlighted shocking ill-treatment of children at ten children’s homes .
These revelations sparked public outrage, with some accusing the CA of failing to fulfil its statutory mandate to protect the nation’s children in its care.
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley recently called on acting Police Commissioner McDonald Jacob to investigate and take action against anyone implicated in the report.
Harvey-Mitchell: Increases were evident
In the report, then CA director/CEO Nichola Harvey-Mitchell admitted the 2019/2020 period felt like a perfect storm. She said the agency had to quickly assess its risks, develop mitigation strategies and ensure staff was well equipped to offer services to abused, at-risk, and neglected children during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Fears were expressed that the closure of schools and day-care centres would lead to more children being sexually and physically abused. This fear came about as the data continues to show that the main perpetrators of reported abuse over the years are persons known to the child,” she said.
During the early months of the pandemic, the number of cases of abuse remained steady. However, after careful analysis with the comparative period March to September 2017-2020, increases were seen.
The CA also saw a marked increase in the number of children being taken before the courts for supervision after their parents reported their unmanageable and risky behaviours.
“This action by parents and the court’s response resulted in an increase in children in need of supervision and recovery orders which exacerbated the existing placement crisis faced by the authority since there were often no other suitable relatives who would and could provide care for the child,” Harvey-Mitchell said.
Stressing that “child protection is not for the faint of heart,” she said an concern over the past five years has been the “16,000” backlogs or unattended cases. To date, the CA has reviewed more than 50 per cent of the backlog cases.
Harvey-Mitchell said she asked herself upon assuming office if the mandate of the authority was too expansive: “Can we really fulfil this mandate of caring, protecting and rehabilitating the 4,000 plus cases received annually?”
Neglect, sexual and
physical abuse
Statistics in the report showed that the highest reported categories of child abuse and maltreatment for fiscal 2019/2020 were sexual abuse (22.7 per cent), neglect (17.1 per cent) and physical abuse (14.8 per cent).
“Reports of sexual abuse, neglect and physical abuse have consistently been the highest reported types of abuse and maltreatment received by the authority over the past fiscal years,” the report stated.
The highest percentage of sexual abuse cases were reported in 2017 (24.1 per cent) and 2019 (23.6 per cent). During this period, mothers accounted for 24.2 per cent of reports of alleged perpetrators, while 45.8 per cent of alleged perpetrators could not be identified.
An overview of total cases received by the CA for March to September in the period 2017 to 2020 showed a gradual increase of reports of children in need of care and protection. For those seven months in 2020, the CA saw its highest cases with 2,963 reports. The months with the most reports in 2020 were April to August.
Further statistics also showed that the Child Protection Registry Unit received 31,633 calls in 2020, including 4,914 reports of abuse. From 2015 to September 2020, the Emergency Response Team received 741 reports of children in imminent danger.
“One issue the Authority found to be worrying was the increase in the number of children who required placement which was exacerbated during the COVID-19 period of March to September 2020, as parents and guardians sought court orders to remove their children from their care, asking that those children be placed in the Authority’s care because of their unmanageable and risk behaviours,” the report stated.
Many of these children presented with psychiatric disorders which required a range of treatment and interventions.
There were challenges in finding placement for children who were removed from their primary homes, “as children’s homes refused requests for placement due to the risk of residents and staff contracting the virus.”
However, protocols were implemented, including testing of the child, to reduce the risks and allow for ease of access into the homes.
“The COVID-19 pandemic also caused changes in the intake policies at children’s homes which made placement more challenging, as children were now required to be quarantined for seven to 14 days prior to placement.”
The demand for placement was far greater than the availability of space. This was more pronounced with specific groups of children such as victims of trafficking, children with poor mental health, disabilities, and those in need of supervision.
Two homes were temporarily closed for a few weeks for renovations to meet public health certification for licensing, while some homes fhad staff constraints.
“The physical capacity of children’s homes was maximised at 740 beds in this reporting period,” the report stated.
The CA’s Tobago Child Support Centre (CSC) was over capacity due to a steady increase in the number of children needing supervision.
Benjamin: CA got a raw deal
Former chairman of the Children’s Authority Hanif Benjamin admitted that the agency had abdicated its responsibilities, people were not held to account for their actions and staff were put in wrong positions. He said these were some of the problems that could have resulted in the CA being blamed for failing vulnerable children.
Benjamin said he met resistance when he tried to get the CA to work in the interest of abused and neglected children, but despite the pushback a lot was accomplished under his tenure.
“On one end you cannot give me a mandate, not give me the resources, and then on the other end beat me for it,” he said.
Benjamin said when he assumed office the CA was faced with a myriad of challenges “from culture to finances.” His first task was to develop an organisational structure, policies and projects on the “meagre budget we had.”
Recognising CA would not get the kind of money it needed, Benjamin formed a committee to raise funds which started reaping benefits. The CA also established reception centres and safe houses.
The stipulated time for a child to stay in a reception centre is 12 weeks but in some cases, children spent months waiting to be reintegrated. In addition, the authority needed a legislative review to carry out its functions.
“We met an agency where we had a lot of great people but in the wrong positions. I drove a hard board. They would tell you that many of them did not agree with me. They fought me but I was resolute in what needed to be done. If I have been judged on that, then judge me on that. But do not say that the authority did nothing,” he said.
Benjamin said he never accepted excuses and pushed for improvements.
He added: “That is why they would not like me. I don’t want to hear this is too much to do. Get it done! Get the resources or get creative.”
Bejamin said he did not know when the problem of children being denied entry into homes during the pandemic started.
“For the few months I managed COVID, every home including the authority had to come up with a way forward in terms of how they managed the pandemic,” he said.
“It is draconian to turn a child away whose environment is at risk. That cannot be a normal thing. At least, it wasn’t when I was there. That was something I would not have condoned in any respect.”
Benjamin said it was unfair to put decades of abuse of children on the shoulders of the CA which was operationalized in 2015.
“The Government must take responsibility. The Authority was designed to deal with current cases that are reported to them . . . not cases from 1972.”
He said there is a lot of hard-working staff at CA.
“It is not all bad. I think they got a raw deal and the expectation is high bt I also believe that there are people who shouldn’t be there, should not have been there,” he said
Benjamin said the CA has to take some blame as they failed to carry out some duties. The Licensing and Monitoring Unit, which is supposed to be the eyes and ears in children’s homes, had abdicated its responsibility.
“And everybody knows my dissatisfaction on many levels. A lot of things were going on and were being reported to me outside of the Authority when I felt that our people should have been picking those things up,” he said.
For the CA to get its act together, Benjamin, who left office in 2020, said staff must be trained and developed.
He added: “I also think that law must meet practice. I believe legislation must continuously be reviewed.”
Benjamin said he welcomed the Judith Jones Report as it had “brought the issues to light.”
But he also pointed out: “Unfortunately, the report did not gather all the work the Authority would have done. If the information was not presented to them then they would not know.”