You Will Feel the Law

By Rachael Espinet
The Newsday
August 8, 2013

http://www.newsday.co.tt/news/0,181900.html

GENDER, Youth and Child Development Minister Marlene Coudray yesterday warned anyone caught abusing children, be it physical, sexual or mental abuse, will feel the full brunt of the law.

Addressing the opening of the residential units at the St Mary’s Children’s Home in Tacarigua, Coudray said, “The Ministry is taking very seriously all reports of abuse. Anyone who takes charge of the care of children and abuses them, will feel the full weight of the justice system.”

Coudray said she has received many reports about child abuse and her Ministry is working

assiduously to protect children. An initiative the Ministry is contemplating is installing cameras at public Children’s Homes, but she said that due to privacy and legal issues, feasibility studies must first be done. She encouraged the children to speak out against abuse.

The new residential units at the Home cost approximately $3.3 million to build and outfit. There are 75 children currently at St Mary’s. Each unit can hold up to 16 children, but Coudray hopes in the future the Ministry can assist the Home in building more units to reduce children occupancy per unit to eight.

“I want to see eight children per unit and if we spend another $3.3 million to do so, it would be money well spent,” Coudray said adding that she is concerned many children’s homes and institutions are not receiving adequate funding.

She said according to official records, four out of 51 children institutions were benefitting from 90 percent of the Ministry’s allocations. This year the Ministry allocated $38 million for subventions toward children’s schools.

The Ministry’s records show that out of the 906 children residing in care homes, only 250 of these children benefit from the funds. These 250 children receive between $70,000 and $157,000 per year per child in some institutions, while the rest receive less than $1,000 per year per child. She said this problem is primarily because some of the children’s facilities are government run and others are privately run and many times the private institutions do not apply for the subventions they may need.

So far the Ministry has upgraded the amount of money given to Homes and are working on the others which are privately operated. Coudray vowed that the Government will rectify this issue and ensure that the children receive adequate funding.