Child Protection officers breached protocol

Oct 08, 2010 News

Neesa Gopaul demise…

– Minister Manickchand

The Child Protection Officers assigned to handle the report of abuse of 16-year-old Neesa Lalita Gopaul, failed to report to their superiors that they were unable to meet with the troubled teen, and as such breached protocol.
This was disclosed by Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Priya Manickchand, who hosted a press briefing, yesterday, to address the circumstances that eventually led to the grueling death of the Queen’s College student.

Human Services Minister, Priya Manickchand

Minister Manickchand lamented the massive failures on the part of her Ministry’s officials. She also commented on the fact that the Education and Home Affairs Ministries have also launched investigations to determine the level of breaches within their respective departments.
The investigation by Manickchand’s Ministry will be headed by the Director of Social Services. November 5 is the deadline for its completion.
When asked why the teen was allowed to be reintegrated back into an abusive home even after the initial interventions by the Ministry, Manickchand pleaded for patience saying, “I understand the anxiety to have all the answers right now, but it would not be a complete effort if I were to speak without an investigation.”
She did concede that the girl was in safe care, initially, and that it was the failure to effectively follow up the case which caused the breakdown and unfortunately led to her death.
Manickchand said that there was a failure on the part of the officers to report their inability to make contact with Gopaul so that action could be “bumped up.”
The Child Care and Protection Agency which was established just over a year ago is obligated to fully investigate all reports of suspected abuse and to provide, where necessary, information to the police for criminal action to be taken against perpetrators and to make medical interventions a reality, wherever that is required.
This newspaper understands that despite the fact that the laws of Guyana make it mandatory for the police to investigate such reports, and that they were aware of the plight of Gopaul, they failed to effectively carried out their mandate.
The Child Protection workers, just days before Gopaul was reported missing, showed up at the now dead girl’s Leonora residence with the police and were met with a locked gate. They simply turned away, Minister Manickchand said.
Yesterday, she told media operatives that the Sexual Violence Act 2010 also makes it mandatory for all reports of sexual abuse and violence to be fully investigated at all levels of the social services and criminal justice systems, and moreover, the laws place a responsibility on many persons to report complaints or suspicions of sexual violence against children.
Under the new Child Protection laws also, the teachers who were aware of the abuse meted out to Gopaul were also obligated under the law to report this so that action could have been taken.
“I strongly believe that much more could have, and should have been done to protect this girl by all the authorities, sectors and persons who were aware of the complaints of this young girl…I am certain more could have been done by the Child Care and Protection Agency…Indeed, the Agency’s written procedures and protocols for addressing complaints such as those received in this matter prescribe that more should have been done.”
The Minister said that she sincerely regrets that the Child Care and Protection Agency’s intervention, in this particular case, “was not as effective as it should have been and fell short of the high standard that has been set by the Agency.”
She also mentioned some of the successes of the Child Protection Unit, which saw in excess of 700 children being placed in safe care.
The Minister revealed that she has since ordered an internal review of the actions that were taken by “our officials following a report that was made that Neesa was being abused.”
Manickchand noted that she was also considering an external review of the process.
“We have to know exactly where the system erred, why it erred, and what we need to do within the agency as well as it relates to collaboration with other agencies to prevent these breaches from ever happening again so that we could, as far as is possible, prevent the consequences of these breaches.”
Interested stakeholders await the findings of the investigation, she added.