Latest update January 18th, 2025 7:00 AM
More social workers needed to stem domestic violence – Magistrate
A Berbice Magistrate has highlighted the need for more social workers to fight domestic abuse.
Magistrate Chandra Sohan made the observation while addressing participants at a recently held candlelight prayer vigil at Port Mourant, Corentyne that focused on abused persons.
Magistrate Chandra Sohan
“When we should be having one social worker, say, for 100 persons, we very much have one social worker for 2,000 persons”. The social services and social back- ups are not within our system.”
Sohan said that whatever efforts are being made by those in authority are not enough to deal with the growing social epidemic that has been taking over the country.
“We’ve been speaking about the social services in this country and the government spending money to try to make a difference when it comes to domestic violence….but whatever is being done is hardly enough. We have very few social workers in this country!”
The Magistrate said that “there is a flood of violence against persons” right now in the country.
He added that when you look at the kinds of domestic matters that reach the court system, “it surrounds primarily financial aspects, or the root cause of it is financial”. In cases that have been made before him, Sohan noted, “helplessness is one of the major factors and this is where I strongly believe that the economic situation of the persons who suffer domestic violence has to be improved”.
“The tolerance of domestic violence, from my experience, largely has to do with the helplessness of those who suffer, be it man, woman or children”. He noted that men who stretch the financial situations thin in the home, cause the wife to “feel the brunt of it”.
“What does she do?” “Who does the woman and her children turn to? The social services are not there! The financial back- up is not there, and that is, in my mind where we need to start”, he posited.
He said that until that is addressed, we can “talk from now until God comes down, I don’t see it is going to change”, he posited.
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