Latest update April 19th, 2024 12:59 AM
Feb 16, 2012 News
The Child Care Protection Agency is currently increasing its manpower to decentralize child protective services to rural, hinterland and riverain communities.
According to Ann Greene, the Director of the Child Care Protection Agency, most of the agency’s work is concentrated in Georgetown and other coastland communities. To effectively provide services to every child, the body is currently working at filling the vacancies in the Department by recruiting 18 additional Child Protection Officers and would also be looking at revisiting the organization’s structure to meet the needs of children. Greene added that the agency is still relatively new and evolving.
Greene asserted that the newly appointed officers, who are Social Work Graduates, would be undergoing specialized training from March 1. The first training would be for six weeks and would focus on their roles and functions, how they should operate in multicultural communities, and laws governing children. After the training, the officers would be working in various communities and undergo further on the job training.
She emphasized that it is pertinent that officers understand the cultural dynamics of communities since in some communities engaging in sexual activities at a young age is acceptable. However, according to the Laws of Guyana, children below age 16 cannot consent to having sex.
Greene noted that in those areas the officers would play an integral role in conducting re-education activities to enlighten children, parents and adults about sex. She said that in some homes talking about sex is taboo while in other homes children are exposed to sexual intercourse.
The Director said that the Child Protection Officers when dispatched to the various Regions would support the Ministry’s Social Workers, who are already operating in those areas. In addition, the Officers are expected to establish essential partnerships with key stakeholders, such as community and religious leaders.
Greene emphasized that the officers have a large task of preventing child abuse. It calls for cooperation from all segments of society. The officers would be partnering with educators, especially those involved in the “Tell Campaign.” This initiative commenced in July 2011 with the aim to prevent sexual violence/abuse against children.
It targets primary age children to disclose instances of sexual abuse and also to be knowledgeable in protecting themselves from predators. The campaign has been successfully rolled out in 85 primary schools in Regions Two, Three, Four, Ten and in Georgetown. This has resulted in 101 Parent Teacher Association executives and 206 teachers being trained to conduct the sessions in the classroom.
However, the aim is to increase the number of schools involved since teachers are the frontrunners in spotting abuse.
She related that the officers would be working with the teachers to ensure signs of abuse are observed earliest and children are educated about the types and forms of abuse.
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