By Rehana Ahamad

THE Childcare and Protection Agency (CPA) has recorded a total of 695 cases of children being sexually abused during the period January 2020 to October 2020. Even as the agency works to institute protective and preventative measures within communities, it is also examining the expansion of its Child Advocacy Programmes for young victims.

At least two additional Child Advocacy Centres are expected to be established in 2021. This is according to Ann Greene, Director of the CPA.

“In Region Six, two centres are being prepared for opening in the new year,” Greene said in her address to a CPA staff conference last week.

During this year, two centres were established to serve the areas of Kwakwani and communities in Region One. The data for 2020 shows Region One as having the highest rate of child abuse in all categories, including sexual abuse. It specifies that in that region, children are abused at an overall rate of 17.8 per 1000 children. As it relates to child sexual abuse, Region One has a rate of 5.3 per 1,000 children.

The Child Advocacy Centres, also known as ‘One Stop’ centres, are “designed around responding to cases of child sexual abuse efficiently by ensuring that children have access to a child-safe and child-friendly space to share their stories and get the support that will help them overcome the trauma they have suffered. Being child-centred, the one-stop facility ensures that survivors do not have to recount their experiences any more than necessary,” a UNICEF Guyana press release had indicated.

The centres are usually established in partnership with UNICEF and Blossom Incorporated, a Non-Governmental Organisation. Some seven children are abused daily in Guyana; the CPA is looking expand its essential psychosocial support to vulnerable children and their families, especially within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We definitely will be concentrating on providing assistance to the family by increase services and social network supports at the community level,” Greene said.

SAFETY-NET FOR CHILDREN

She explained that the long-term goal is the development of the family as the safety-net for children, especially since the family is regarded as an agent of the Sustainable Developmental Goals (SDG).

“It is said that through the essential roles of the family that the SDG is achievable. Consequently, the plan is to use a family-centred and strength-based approach, which involves building positive partnerships with the family and identifying their strength and build on it,” Greene noted.

The CPA Director recognised that each family is unique; as a result, support systems are crafted for individual families and situations based on specific needs and culture patterns.
“Helping them to make their own decisions is known to create the best environment for children’s health, development and wellbeing,” Greene said. For the period January 2020 to October 2020, a total of 3,631 were assisted through the CPA’s family support programmes. Some 775 boys were reached through parental counselling, as against 991 girls.

Paramount to the CPA is the prevention of children being separated from their biological families. Consequently, the agency has several programmes geared at the successful reintegration of children with their families. During the aforementioned period, three children were successfully reunited and reintegrated with their families. The CPA figures indicate that 58 children were “reached through poverty”.

Nonetheless, to support its existing programmes, the CPA is working to implement a five-year strategy for the National Alternative Care Policy for Children. This is especially important given the fact that in excess of 500 of Guyana’s children remain in institutional care.

This newspaper had previously reported that as of October 2020, the CPA had received some 2,761 cases of children being abused. This represents a 26.5 per cent increase in reports, as compared to the past two years. The CPA data indicated, too, that mothers continue to be the leading perpetrators of child abuse, with most cases being related to neglect. A total of 1,224 children were neglected as of October 2020. Eleven children were completely abandoned during the aforementioned period.