Dear Editor,
I wish to respond to a letter published in the Wednesday February 24, 2016 edition of your newspaper, captioned ‘Officials would not deal with issue of child being beaten by teacher’ which was written by Mr Michael Mc Garrell.
I would first wish to express the gratitude of the Childcare and Protection Agency (CPA) to Mr Mc Garrell for his vigilance and persistence in ensuring this matter was heard by the relevant authorities. Every adult is indeed a child protector and we encourage all of society to take similar action whenever a child is being abused. It is very unfortunate that Mr Mc Garrell had such a less than professional and positive experience as he attempted to report this matter to our Child Protection Hotline, and for that I sincerely apologise.
The Childcare and Protection Agency hotline is a 24 hour operated service which exists to receive reports on all matters of child abuse, neglect or maltreatment of a child. The operators of the hotline are not authorised to direct a reporter to another agency but must record all information being provided by the caller. In the event that another agency has some responsibility with regard to the matter reported, the CPA will liaise with that agency or officially refer the matter for that agency’s action. This is the policy of the CPA, but regrettably this was not followed in this case; as a result measures are being taken to increase compliance with our agency policies so as to avoid a similar occurrence in the future. In light of the information provided by Mr Mc Garrell, officers of the CPA have since visited the location indicated and an investigation has commenced.
Child protection is everybody’s business and the CPA relies heavily on our relationship with the public to effectively tackle child abuse in our country. The CPA wishes to reassure the public that our hotline number 227-0979 is available to receive reports and we appeal to anyone who knows of a child being abused to report it and to keep reporting it until action is taken.
Yours faithfully,
Stacey Fraser
For Director Children Services
Childcare and Protection
Agency
