Government Mulls over Using Cameras in Children's Homes

By Geisha Kowlessar
The Guardian
August 8, 2013

http://guardian.co.tt/news/2013-08-08/government-mulls-over-using-cameras-children%E2%80%99s-homes

Manager of the St Mary’s Children’s Home, Patricia Martin, right, guides, Gender, Youth and Child Development Minister, Marlene Coudray, third from left, Rev Bishop Claude Berkley, second from left, and Sandra Jones, permanent secretary in the ministry, second from right, through one of four new residential units at the home after the formal opening yesterday

Minister of Gender, Youth and Child Development, Marlene Coudray, yesterday warned managers and caregivers of children’s homes they would feel the full brunt of the law if it was found children have been abused in any form. She made the comment at the formal opening of four newly-constructed residential units at the St Mary’s Children’s Home, Tacarigua, saying Government may soon take the action of placing cameras within homes to monitor activity.

“The abuse of children would be met with aggressive action from this ministry and we are now setting up mechanisms by which we can monitor,” she said, when asked about how the ministry could put mechanisms in place to ensure children were properly taken care of. “One of the options we have is to install cameras that can be monitored remotely. We know there is privacy and other issues involved but I want to assure the ministry is actively working on reports of abuse,” she added. 

Saying she was not singling out the St Mary’s Home, Coudray said she made the remark after several complaints of abuse at children’s homes had reached the ministry. Urging that at all times children need love, care and guidance, Coudray said a child was most confident when he or she was exposed to such qualities. The St Mary’s Home, Coudray said, would serve as a model on which other children’s homes would be fashioned.

“St Mary’s is the model. It is not the ideal but it is what we are trying to use as the base for other children’s homes. “We don’t want a big institution where everybody is mixed up but smaller units where children are classified according to age and sex,” Coudray said. She said the ministry was accessing where assistance would be needed to upgrade homes.

She added: “The Government is not prepared to tolerate any excuse in falling short in caring for our children and we are ensuring all potential shortfalls are addressed. “Our objective is to partner with non-governmental organisations and faith-based organisations to ensure the policy objectives are met.”  

On another issue, Coudray said out of 51 children’s homes in the country, only four have been receiving 90 per cent of $34 million which was allocated by Government to be spent on homes and institutions. “And even more alarming to us were that the official records are showing that there were approximately 906 children residing in care homes and 250 of those children are in the four homes that are getting the 90 per cent of the allocation.

“What we saw was that the Government was spending between $70,000 and $157,000 per year per child in an institution and the question was what about the other 47 other homes?” She said she was “ashamed” to say that what was being given to the other children at the other 47 homes would have been less than $1,000 a year a child. “So we have to work on addressing that. We have done three homes so far in term of upgrading what we have been giving them,” Coudray added.

Saying it was critical for financial statements to be reviewed, the minister said that included how donations were used. The four newly-constructed residential units unveiled yesterday cost $3.3 million and this was the first phase in its further improvement.