A child alone with an alcoholic parent, a ‘little old lady’ who just wanted something to eat and pensioner who wanted assistance in accessing her diabetes medication were among the over 200 calls received by the Child Care and Protection Agency (CC&PA) for the month of April. Of that number, 38 calls were reports of child sexual abuse.
This is according to Director of the CC&PA Ann Greene who told Stabroek Weekend that the agency is still analyzing the figures even as its phones are “ringing off the hook. We have been helping anybody, old people calling for their pension dates, one lady needed her diabetes medicine. Everything we answer because … people know our numbers,” Greene said during an interview.
Since the novel coronavirus was first confirmed in Guyana on March 11, the agency has taken numerous measures to keep its workers and the children in care safe. However, with the curfew implemented, Greene and her workers were also well aware that many children are now more vulnerable as some could be at home with their abusers. CC&PA staff are considered frontline workers and they have been out in the field responding to the various cases.