There is something particularly putrid about the way in which the state apparatus treats this country’s children. Not the ones who excel at examinations, essays and spelling bees and make the country look good, but the ones who don’t and are not given the opportunity to even explore if they can do those things; the vulnerable children.
These children, who would have been abandoned by their parents, orphaned or are being neglected, become little more than statistics—one of a number in orphanages or care homes. The now very public plight of three teenage girls who ‘lived’ in a police station in Berbice for close to a month is a case in point. These three girls aged 15, 15 and 13 years old, two of them sisters, lived in a privately-run home in Berbice—Camal’s International Home for Homeless and Battered Women—and had reportedly run away. There were picked up by the police, charged with wandering and placed before the court where they were sentenced to be confined at the New Opportunity Corps (NOC).
In an odd turn of events, no attempt was made to contact the welfare services prior to the sentencing of these girls, but a probation report was ordered after they were sentenced and pending their departure to Onderneeming, Essequibo for confinement at the NOC. And this is where things went horribly wrong. The girls were apparently ‘arrested’ on November 20, charged and sentenced on November 22 and scheduled to return to court on November 26 for the probation reports. But no report was submitted to the court on that day and the teens simply remained in police custody. It seems they would have remained there indefinitely were it not for a teacher, who somehow discovered their plight.
The protocol for dealing with these issues should have seen that teacher informing the headmaster/mistress, who would have then taken the matter to child welfare services and the Ministry of Education. It seems none of this was followed. Instead, outrageously, the children’s plight along with a very prominent photograph of them ended up in the social media on a reporter’s Facebook page after that reporter was made privy to the facts.
As if having their human rights violated and their dignity removed were not enough, the owner of the orphanage was allowed to further malign them accusing them of all sorts of deviant behaviours, duly reported in a section of the media.
It wasn’t until a lawyer stepped in this past Monday and appealed the magistrate’s decision to send the children to the NOC that the odds seemed to slant ever so slightly in their favour. They have now been sent to a second children’s home in the Ancient County, where it is hoped they will fare better.
The list of adults who failed these children is long and shameful. According to information gleaned from the orphanage, the girls had been there for two years and a year respectively. What caused the drastic change in behaviour that saw them escape to ‘wander’? And if there were behavioural problems why had the matron/owner of that institution not contacted the Child Care and Protection Agency (CCPA)? Why was one of the 15-year-old girls not attending school? How long had it been since she attended any school and why was this not reported to the authorities?
The teacher who learned of the girls’ incarceration did not follow the established protocol. While she may or may not be aware of its existence, a call to the CCPA, even placed anonymously ought to have been her next course of action.
The reporter who plastered their images on social media and continues to do so is obviously not au fait with how situations involving minors should be reported or does not care. Either way, she does the profession a disservice.
How come no police officer at the station where they were being held—male or female—saw anything wrong with having three underage girls in custody and for such an extended period?
But the epic failure is that of the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security for not following its own laid-down protocol. In June 2008, amid huge fanfare at the Pegasus Hotel, the ministry launched a booklet of 25 minimum standards for orphanages. The then minister Ms Priya Manickchand had said that while compliance by privately-run institutions was voluntary, non-compliance would see her ministry taking the necessary steps even if it meant moving to the courts.
One of the standards required each home to appoint “a management board” which would include one or two volunteers from the community. The board’s task would be to examine house rules, reorganise the management systems as necessary and instigate record-keeping among other things. It was envisaged that the homes and their boards would be monitored by a visiting committee of 12 independent volunteers who would visit the homes in groups of three to assess compliance with standards.
If a home consistently failed to meet the necessary minimum standards of care then the inspector and the ministry would take action, it was reported back then. It was noted that the children in the homes would have already had very unhappy experiences and some might have been victims of emotional or physical abuse or rejection by their families and would need extra special care and attention to pull them back from the edge of anger, frustration, hopelessness and despair.
The fact that the ministry has launched an investigation into the Camal’s Home, while commendable, suggests that it may not have a board and the visiting committee may not have done so in a while. How many other homes in Guyana share the same fate? It had been estimated in 2008 that there were some 600 children in orphanages; what is that figure today?
At a seminar in March this year, Director of Children Services at the (CC&PA) Ann Greene had urged homes to lift their standards. It was revealed that homes were found to be rodent-infested, have some improperly stored food and appalling sanitary conditions. Yet, not once was any move made to the courts with regard to any of this.
Finally, Ms Greene was right in her call for children not to be charged with status offences like wandering. We would hope that Ms Greene will take the opportunity now presented to mount a lobby against this.
