Dear Editor,
The letter in SN of September 22 by Mr Sahadeo Bates captioned ‘Ended up in prison after reporting child abuse’ refers.
The Childcare and Protection Agency in its mandate investigates all reported cases of child abuse. It is the policy of the agency to treat the identity of reporters with the utmost confidentiality so as to avoid reporters being penalized by community members or the alleged perpetrators. If a reporter, however, chooses to reveal their identity to the alleged perpetrators, ensuing conflict between the parties is likely to occur.
Anyone knowing of a child being abused has the social and legal responsibility to report this to the Childcare and Protection Agency or law enforcement. The Protection of Children Act 2009 clearly states that “where a person has direct information that a child is or may be in need of protective intervention, the person shall immediately report the matter to the Director, a probation officer appointed by the Public Service Commission or a police officer.”
Further, there are also provisions made in the Act to protect reporters of child abuse from being interfered with or harassed for providing information to the Childcare and Protection Agency.
The Childcare and Protection Agency under the Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security is currently commemorating Child Protection Week from September 21-27, 2014 under the theme ‘Partnering with Communities to Prevent Child Abuse.’ We are therefore imploring all sections and members of society to honour their role as a ‘child protector’ and join forces with the CPA to eradicate the child abuse in our country.
All confidential reports can be made to the Agency’s 24-hour hotline 227-0979 and together we can work to provide a safe and protected childhood for all our children.
Yours faithfully,
Stacey Fraser
Deputy Director (Operations)
Childcare and Protection
Agency
