Help the Children’s Authority, don’t criticise it, says child rights activist, Diana Mahabir-Wyatt. Asking how many children outside of the Children’s Authority have committed suicide, Mahabir-Wyatt rose in defence of the organisation she helped get off the ground.
Head of the T&T Coalition Against Domestic Violence (TTCADV), a support NGO of the Children’s Authority, Mahabir-Wyatt was responding to questions from the T&T Guardian on the death of 17-year old Joshua Boneo who was found hanging in the bathroom of the Children’s Authority’s Child Support Centre on June 17.
The Children’s Authority has been under increasing criticism by members of the public for not being proactive enough and only responding to a case of child abuse when it’s highlighted by the media.
Earlier this year, the Authority came under scrutiny by the Government after it was discovered that a 15-year old boy sent by the court to the St Michael’s Home for Boys has been living at the home of Children’s Authority director, Safiya Noel.
The Ministry of Gender and Child Affairs requested a report from the Authority on the matter, promising to investigate it.
The Children’s Authority was set up in May 2015 under the former People’s Partnership administration and Sharifa Ali-Abdullah appointed director.
The Authority was formed after recommendations in a report from the Child Protection Task Force, chaired by Mahabir-Wyatt, which was established under the former regime.
Ali-Abdullah was replaced by Noel in October 2016 and Mahabir-Wyatt said the new board hardly contacts her but she remained defensive about the Children Authority.
“Instead of criticising it, help it,” she said.
Mahabir-Wyatt said staff shortages and far from adequate resources continue to hamper the work of the Authority.
“The biggest problem at the Children’s Authority is the shortage of staff and resources. And more and more cases of child neglect and abuse are coming in daily.”She said government allocations for NGOs that supported the Children’s Authority have been drastically cut as well.
“When the authority gets a case of child abuse, because of staff shortages and resources, they refer it to groups like TTCADV, Childline and the Rape Crisis Centre, which provides safe places for the children and trained counsellors.
“With the cut in funding, staff at these NGOs are going home and many are already closing down.” Pleas to the Government have fallen on deaf ears, she said.
“I don’t think it’s that they’re indifferent to the growing child abuse problem. I think they just don’t really know what’s really going on.”
Mahabir-Wyatt linked the increases in child neglect and abuse cases to the worsening state of the economy.
