– invites public to partner with Government to report abuses
IN introductory remarks yesterday in the boardroom of the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security, Minister Priya Manickchand reminded media operatives that she had indicated at a press briefing held on 7th October that she had ordered an internal review of the actions that were taken by Child Protection officers following a report that a child, Neesa Lalita Gopaul, was being abused.
She had said then that ”We have to know exactly where the system erred, why it erred and what we need to do within the agency….so that we could, as far as possible, prevent the consequences of these breaches.”   The Minister said that the internal review had been completed ahead of schedule, with a summary of the review being released to the public through the media at the press conference yesterday.

Objectives of Investigation
The Minister informed media operatives that the objectives of the investigation were to: determine if there were any breaches in addressing the Neesa Gopaul case; determine the officers responsible for the breaches, if any; identify gaps within the systems used by the Child Care and Protection Agency; determine areas that need to be strengthened and/or changed; recommend corrective action necessary to improve the service delivered by the Childcare and Protection Agency.

The findings
According to the Minister, who was reading from a prepared report, 16-yr-old Neesa Lalita Gopaul’s case was with the Childcare and Protection Agency for almost one year, having first been reported by Neesa, who was accompanied by a teacher from Queen’s College, on 19th October 2009.  The matter was referred to caseworker number one.
The Ministry’s response to that report was to remove Neesa and her younger sister from their home and place them in the care of their maternal grandparents, who soon after returned the children to their mother on the stated basis that the eight thousand dollars per week they were receiving for maintaining the children was not enough.
The caseworker did not report this development to her superior, as is mandatory.  Neesa, who had also been receiving counseling, discontinued the sessions.  Caseworker number one made several attempts to contact Neesa at her home, even soliciting the assistance of the police to assist, to no avail, until subsequently, against the strictures of the Principal, she spoke to Neesa at her school and reported that Neesa had indicated then that she was no longer being abused and that she had no wish to continue her counseling sessions, something else that the caseworker neglected to report to her superior.
According to the Minister’s report Neesa again surfaced on the radar of the Agency on 24 August 2010, when the Agency received a report of alleged sexual abuse from a Social Worker, not attached to the Ministry, working at a Hospital stationed in the West Demerara and the matter was then assigned to a new caseworker.
Four visits were subsequently made to the home where Neesa lived in an attempt to speak with her by caseworker number two but all four attempts were reportedly unsuccessful. After her first visit, Officer 2 was told by Officer 1 that if she wanted to see the child she had to visit the school Neesa attended, but that second officer made no effort to visit the school or to report the alleged abuse to the Police; neither did she seek any further help for the child, whose body was found shortly after.
The investigators’ report revealed that, following both reports, neither caseworker had followed documented and/or established procedures for addressing matters that engage the attention of the CCPA.
The Minister reported that, in the first instance caseworker number one failed to report to her supervisor and/or the Director that Neesa had returned home to her mother’s house; and she also neglected to report to any senior person that she was encountering difficulties in contacting Neesa,
Caseworker number two failed to report a complaint of sexual abuse to the police; nor did she make any requisite intervention in a sexual violence complaint, even after a whole month had elapsed.  She also neglected to report to her supervisors that she was encountering difficulties contacting Neesa and neither did she note her concern nor report to her seniors that she had not yet made an intervention, even after a significant time had elapsed, in a complaint about sexual violence.  Finally she neglected to take any or any appropriate and/or urgent action to allow for contact with Neesa, despite being advised that a viable means of meeting the complainant was at her school.
At the managerial level of the Agency, it was found that the Operations Manager, by her own admission, had failed to do obligatory and necessary daily management of the operations of the Agency, resulting in no or no proper supervision and/or follow up of cases that had come to the attention of the Agency, in particular the case of Neesa Gopaul. In a six month period that manager had been written to, according to the Minister, in excess of three times about her failure to perform in the capacity in which she was hired and for her continuous absences. Unfortunately, although so advised, no action was taken by the Personnel Division.
Thus the Operations Manager failed to discharge the duties of her post, which include monitoring the policies, standards and targets implemented for children’s services to ensure effectiveness; evaluate monthly progress reports and statistical returns from subordinate officers; assess training needs of professional staff and, with the concurrence of the Director of Children Services, develop and execute programmes for human resource development; manage the operations of the agency so as to ensure its purpose (to protect children) is fulfilled; and design and implement systems that would correct the short-comings of the division and create a more structured and organized working environment in the Operations Division;
This Manager is also accused, despite warnings, of continuing to render professional services to another agency and accepting remuneration for those services without the permission of the Government, disregarding repeated requests to cease and desist from this unlawful practice.

The Minister also reported that the findings revealed that supervisors in the Operations Department of the Agency did not show due diligence in following up on the cases assigned to the individual caseworkers in the Agency.
She said that, as far as it relates to the Childcare and Protection Agency, at the heart of the failures in Neesa’s case was the failure of the two caseworkers and their immediate supervisors. While making no excuses for those failures, she noted that the investigation also revealed that working conditions, specifically physical accommodations, could be improved and new tools added to make the Agency more effective.
According to the Minister, the report made very specific recommendations. These recommendations include, among others, the extension of the probation period for Officer 1, the dismissal of Officer 2, and the dismissal of Officer 3
Among other recommendations, which were already being implemented, even before Neesa’s matter surfaced, was the immediate preparation of a building to house the Childcare and Protection Agency. Assurances have been given by the contractor that the building would be finished by the end of November; the immediate development and implementation of a MIS specially designed for the CCPA, which had begun awhile back, with some equipment already having been acquired; the immediate communication to teachers, head teachers and police officers, through the Ministries of Home Affairs and Education, their roles and responsibilities created under the new pieces of legislation recently passed into law which include allowing Child Protection Officers access to children, reporting as soon as practicable thereafter, to the Childcare and Protection Agency any reports about child abuse made to these service providers; and an increase in the complement of childcare and protection officers at the Agency.
The Minister once more, on behalf of The Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security, extended deepest condolences to Neesa’s family and loved ones and again condemned the “barbaric actions” of those responsible for her death. She said “I have outlined what happened in the Childcare and Protection Agency and what actions we are taking as a result of our investigation. However, I wish to point out that the Agency is not responsible for Neesa’s death. The responsibility lies squarely on the shoulders of those who did this fiendish act. Nevertheless, we share responsibility for not providing her with enough protection, we share this responsibility with the police service and the education system and we share this responsibility with the family members of Neesa and the community where Neesa lived. None of us can be absolved.
“As a society we share a collective responsibility to protect the vulnerable amongst us, particularly our children. Let us all take stock and do our level best to report abuse where ever we see it and to respond to abuse in the appropriate ways when ever we find it. The Ministry of Human Services and Social Security will continue to provide leadership and service and we invite all citizens and organisations to work with us.
“Let me repeat what I said to the press the last time “I renew our call to all parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, guardians, educators and communities, to come forward with information about child abuse wherever it may be occurring. The system of disclosure has worked effectively in the past to protect our vulnerable children, and this horrific incident must serve to make our various efforts stronger.”
The hotline number to report child abuse is 227-0979.