PRINCES Town MP Barry Padarath was to know whether the recommendations from the Justice Judith Jones report on the operations of children’s homes have been implemented.
In a release on Tuesday, he called on the Children’s Authority to clarify and his demand follows recent reports of abuse at the Couva Children’s Home.
Padarath said he was concerned over the situation, noting that the alleged perpetrator is a minor and that there are claims those in authority at the home were aware of the abuse but chose to ignore the complaints. “This is a deeply worrying and troubling situation,” Padarath said.
He recalled that in last year’s budget, a security and monitoring unit was promised to be established at the Children’s Authority to better equip it to monitor the homes.
Padarath said, “In the Justice Judith Jones report, one of the recommendations was to ensure rigorous security background checks as well as periodic psychometric evaluations of caretakers at the homes.”
He said, “Had this been done, we might have unearthed this situation at the Couva Children’s Home earlier and may have also prevented some of what took place.”
As the Opposition Shadow Minister with responsibility for children’s issues, Padarath criticised the competence and capacity of the Children’s Authority, stating, “Despite several instances of abuse at children’s homes coming to the forefront, the Authority continues to drop the ball in the protection of our nation’s children.”
Padarath called on Minister of Gender and Child Affairs Ayanna Webster-Roy to take decisive action. “Minister Webster-Roy must make heads roll at the Children’s Authority for not implementing the recommendations of the Justice Judith Jones report and for failing to improve the monitoring of the homes,” he said.
He further noted that over the past nine years, the Children’s Authority has been understaffed and under-resourced. “Is this the real reason why the Authority is unable to bring effect to the legislative changes governing children’s homes?” Padarath questioned. He urged the Minister to clarify whether the budget appropriated for the Children’s Authority was disbursed to them to implement the necessary recommendations for monitoring, security, and evaluation.
“The manner in which children’s homes in this country are operated under the Children’s Authority is getting from bad to worse,” Padarath added, emphasising, “It appears that no one is guarding the guards.”
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