– to help take the fight to child abuse

By Vanessa Braithwaite

HEADTEACHERS of schools across Region Ten (Upper Demerara-Berbice) are
now better informed on the very critical role they and supervised staff play in ensuring that every case of child abuse that is brought to their attention is immediately reported to the Region’s Child Protection Agency (CPA).

Failure to do so, they’ve learnt, can have dire consequences not only for themselves, but more importantly for the abused child, as many times they are the first responders in cases of abuse, and therefore serve as a critical link in the channel of bringing justice to the child.
This was encapsulated at a symposium held in Linden on Tuesday in observance of Child Protection Week 2019. Participating were scores of Headteachers from nursery to secondary schools, who joined other relevant stakeholders to form a conversation on the social phenomenon affecting the region, and how best it can be stamped out at the earliest possible time.

Senior Child Protection Officer Huette Moore, in her opening remarks, emphasised that it is the CPA’s mission to prevent child abuse by providing the needed services and resources to ensure all players are involved. “If we could have zero reported cases of abuse, this would be excellent,” Moore said, adding: “But since we are living in a world where things have changed greatly, we have to work towards reducing that amount. We are hoping that our headteachers can assist us with that, because you are the first responders; you get to see them more than we do.”

INFORMATIVE DISCUSSION

The observation opened the door for a very informative discussion among participants, who included Linden’s Town Clerk Orleena Obermuller; Linden Hospital Complex Social Worker Laurette Smith, and Regional Chairman Renis Morian.

Cameal Jeffery, Senior CPA Officer attached to Kwakwani, informed participants of the role and protocol of the CPA, in that it is the mandated organisation to commence the process of investigation into an allegation of sexual abuse, by first taking an official report of the allegation from the victim and those around him or her. And even after the matter would have ended up in court, follow up counselling sessions are done with the victim.

This course of action highlighted the channel the investigation takes, and if the headteacher holds back from making a report, it would affect the entire channel.

In Linden, an NGO named Blossom Inc. has been playing an integral role in this chain of command since its establishment of a ‘One-Stop-Centre in 2018 at the Linden Hospital Complex, where the entire investigation process is done at one time, so the victim would not be re-traumatised.

BLOSSOM INC’S ROLE
Blossom Inc. Social Worker Melissa Chapman highlighted the role the Centre is playing by ensuring an integrated approach is taken by putting the child in one place, where the representatives from the many units such as law enforcement, child protection, police, social workers and doctors will be.
She explained that the representatives of the different organisations work together to make decisions about investigation, treatment, management and prosecution of child abuse cases.

Giving an overview on the role the police plays in investigating sexual offices, Corporal Keaisha Erskine of ‘E’ Division’s Sexual Offences Unit said that the Guyana Police Force upholds zero tolerance for sexual offences. Every matter that is reported is thoroughly investigated, she assured stakeholders, in that a detailed file is sent to the Director of Public Prosecution seeking advice on charges.

SYSTEMIC LOOPHOLES
Toshao Flagran Carter, of Rockstone, highlighted some of the loopholes in the system with dealing with child sexual abuse in the outlying areas. In addressing the concerns, Corporal Erskine related that the Division has taken a proactive approach in dealing with matters of incest, statutory rape, rape and various forms of molestation occurring in the hinterland district, and has been venturing into the communities to engage the officials and residents there on how consequential it is to cover up cases of abuse.

Regional Chairman Renis Morian pledged to support the fight against child abuse in Region Ten by offering financial and other forms of assistance to the regional CPA office, as well as to continue championing the call for all stakeholders, including the church, to get involved in rooting out this social ill. “Don’t just look at today as an academic gathering, but look deep within your hearts to say what else can we do,” he said, adding: “The message is pertinent,” as he urged stakeholders to seek out different approaches to get the attention of a wider audience such as drama and television programmes.

WEEK IN RETROSPECT
Child Protection Week 2019 is being observed under the theme, ‘Promoting Social Change to Stop the violation of Children’. Child Protection Week was first observed in 2004 with the aim of sensitising the populace on how they can get involved in protecting children from being abused. In 2017, Region Ten recorded the highest rate of child abuse, with the most recent statistics showing that from January to May 2019, there have been 1,902 local cases of child abuse.

According to a breakdown of the statistics from the CPA, 1,015 of the cases were girls, while 887 were boys who have been abused.

The highest number of cases was child neglect, which totalled 865, of which 402 were girls and 463 were boys. From January to March, there were 400 reported cases of child sexual abuse.