The long-awaited Child Protection Bill is weeks away from being taken to Parliament.
This was disclosed by Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs, Corey Lane, as he addressed a stakeholders’ workshop on: The Reporting of Child Abuse, the Creation of a Procedural Protocol, at the Sagicor Cave Hill School of Business today.
The workshop was hosted by the Child Care Board, and was the final event held to mark the inaugural Child Abuse Awareness and Prevention Month which was celebrated in April.
The legislation, once passed, could see decades-old fines for matters involving children moving from $24 to $100, 000.
The Parliamentary Secretary said it spoke to the seriousness that Government and his Ministry placed towards the seriousness of child abuse.
He outlined that the new legislation was developed in close collaboration with UNICEF, and stressed that the only persons likely to be offended by its contents were the offenders themselves.
“The reality is that children continue to be hurt every single day,” said Mr. Lane, as he commended the staff of the Child Care Board and the officers of the Barbados Police Service for the work they did in assessing, investigating and intervening for the protection of children in Barbados.
During the session, the areas of child abuse response; the management of child abuse cases in the justice system; the role of the Barbados Police Service in investigating child abuse matters and related challenges as well as the role of the Child Care Board were discussed.
“The aim is to make sure that we develop protocols and procedures whereby the continuous collaboration between these agencies work together as seamlessly as possible in responding to this menace,” Mr. Lane stated.
The Parliamentary Secretary also noted that the seamless transition would be further facilitated with the amalgamation of the National Assistance Board, the Child Care Board, the National Disabilities Unit and the Welfare Department by April next year under the Department of Family Services.
Deputy Chairman of the Child Care Board, Dr. Carol Jacobs and Programme Assistant with UNICEF, Reisha Husbands, also addressed the opening of the workshop.
Presentations were made by Speaker of the House and Attorney-at-Law, Arthur Holder; Justice Barbara Cooke-Alleyne; Station Sergeant Veronica Shepherd-Whitney; and Queen’s Counsel, Dawn Shields-Searle.