President Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday issued a call for religious leaders to “do more” in child protection, saying that they are still to fully support the national programme although they are critical partners in ensuring change.
Religious leaders have the reach needed and can easily use sermons to preach against child abuse and neglect, Jagdeo said, while emphasising that they are “natural allies” in a campaign which requires more than budgetary allocations.
The President, speaking at the official opening of the Childcare and Protection Agency, at Broad and Charles streets, Charlestown spoke, of the need for the Ministry of Human Service’s foster care programme to win wider support among the populace. “When I say we want to close our orphanages it’s not a bad thing. I mean that every child living in those orphanages deserves a family, a home,” he said.
Jagdeo also spoke of the need for conversations in the country to change so that children would not be exposed to corrupting conversations which are “full of crude talk.” He said too that the society needs to change and move away from having “pedophiles and racists” on television talking to the country’s youths.
The Childcare and Protection Agency officially has a “home now,” Director Ann Greene said, as she recalled the years of work prior to the building being allocated. The agency was launched in 2009 but work had commenced since in 2007, and to date some 5,013 children have benefited from the services.
Greene observed that just over 800 children were relocated to safe places during the young life of the agency, while adding that in excess of 6,000 families, including children, received psychosocial support from the agency with assistance from its partners at UNICEF and Child Link (formerly EveryChild Guyana).
Greene said the challenges facing the agency persist and include limited resources and insufficient staffing. But she praised the efforts of the staff, saying they continue to press on and serve the nation’s children despite the constraints.
She also called for deeper collaborations in the national campaign and narrowed her focus on the community. “It is time for real partnerships at the community level,” she said, adding that structured social programmes could be instituted in communities across the country to create a better environment for children.
She bemoaned the suffering many children still face, saying that while the agency is working, “we are not able to reach every child in need.” Greene reflected on the saying which describes childhood as a “painful reality behind closed doors,” and emphasised that sometimes children need protection within their own homes.
Neesa Gopaul
Human Services Minister Priya Manickchand, in her brief remarks, dedicated the opening of the agency to the memory of 16-year-old Neesa Gopaul, whose death she said was a collective failure on the part of the authorities.
She said that many within the agency are reminded of the tragic death and even as they work tirelessly are reminded “of where they fell down.”
Welfare services were blamed by relatives for not taking enough action in the case of the teen, before her murder.
Manickchand stressed that the public needs to get more involved in child protection matters, saying that people are still not contacting the agency when they see children facing difficult situations. She added that a hotline number is operational. “Tell us if a child is not at school for a week; if you see them begging on the streets let us know because that one call or tip can change their lives,” she added.
Red Thread’s coordinator Karen DeSouza, who was also present at the opening, related that resources and attitudes are still challenges to child protection in Guyana.
She noted that the issues currently being faced not only centre on the policy of service but also checks and balances. “It is quite true that many of the social workers who are in the system go to enormous lengths to make sure that children are protected but we do need to build into the system to check to ensure that those who are not committed in that way are found early before they do a lot of damage,” DeSouza stated.
She also mentioned that workers who are valued because of their commitment need to be protected, since they deal with many sensitive matters everyday.
She stated, “I do not believe that the system at the moment includes the mechanism by which they unburden themselves so that they don’t get burnt out in the course of the job.”
Children on protection
At the opening, the large gathering in attendance rallied behind little Faith Corrica, of Eccles Primary School, as she sang a calypso, titled “Save the children.” Faith powered her way through the piece, written by her mother, and delivered a critical message about children being able to live with love and in an environment free of violence, sexual abuse and neglect. “Today we just don’t know who to trust/At home, at school, in the street or the bus,” she sang, adding, “The predators stalking you like a beast/Sometimes you can’t even trust the police.”
Stabroek News was told that Faith is the grand-daughter of local calypso great, Lord Canary.
Meanwhile, this newspaper spoke with some students who were present about what “child protection” meant to them.
Anjalie Shipley, from Dolphin Secondary School, said that child protection is important to every child, while adding that with the security they may socialise better and would not be emotionally stressed—a situation that she said many youths find themselves in. “It teaches us to sort out our problems, even if people are not showing us love, we will be able to get that feeling inside and have the ability to show it to others even though we are not getting it from our parents and family,” she added.
Miracle Singh, from Christ Church Secondary and who delivered a prayer to the gathering, stated that child protection are efforts made by the government and the community to ensure that the best interest of children are taken care of.
Also, Tara Ganesh, from Vreed-en-Hoop Primary School, in her opening remarks, said that child protection is the term used to describe the actions persons take to protect children from acts of abuse in all forms. Ganesh expressed how grateful she was for the special focus in the sector over the years, and she gave special thanks to President Jagdeo, for appreciating how much the building was needed, and also to Minister Manickchand, for her strenuous efforts in Parliament in the area of child protection.
