Child Care Protection week 2013…“We want communities more involved” – Ann Greene

Sep 22, 2013 News

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By Javone Vickerie

With its mission to stamp out violence against children in Guyana, The Child Care and Protection Agency will be looking at ways to get communities more involved as Child Protection Week 2013 begins tomorrow.
Under the theme, “Joining Hands for Effective Child Protection Services” Director of the Child Care and Protection Agency Ann Greene said that the need for community involvement is crucial in the fight to protect children.
“There is a notion that there is only one agency that protects children and when things happen people say I wonder what the child protection agency doing or I wonder what the ministry doing…effective child protection will take responsible families and communities working together,” Greene said.

Greene also believes that every person in society has a moral responsibility to protect children. “We only know of a child that is being abused if someone contacts us and how this thing going these days we might need a child protection officer for every street,” the Director said.
Greene said that engaging the community to get involved and having them understand that is it no longer ‘business as usual’ has become a herculean task for the agency “You hear something happening next door, things banging and people just shutting up the doors and locking the windows and ignoring it. You need to be your brother’s keeper,” Greene reiterated.
She added that in order to fully stop domestic violence and violence against children, persons have to be more aware, responsible and report to the relevant authorities the abuse of any child.
In the wake of last week’s event where a 14 month old- baby drowned in a trench just outside of his Sophia home, Greene said, “This is where communities can get involved. If one parent is going to a school to pick up a child where other children in the community attend why is it that we can’t volunteer everyday and pick all of them up and make sure they reach home?”.

Corrective punishment
Most of us can attest to the fact that as children attending school or at home, once we did something deemed wrong, teachers or parents would correct us with a few or an abundance of lashes.
Our ancestors believed that ‘heat’ on our skins prevented us from becoming ‘bad individuals’ in society just like the good book says “spare not the rod and spoil the child”.
Greene on the other hand believes that “no child should be exposed to violence”, adding that the social norm now is for parents to beat their children when they do something wrong. She is however adamant that “punishment should not hurt.”
“Everybody say there were beaten as a child and they turned out great, my question to them is how do you know this? You might have been better if you were not beaten,” Greene said.
The Director further stated that ‘beating’ creates a vicious cycle of violence, noting that “Hurt people, hurt people”, and discipline should not hurt.
Greene also believes that corporal punishment represents the cultural mindset of society which has been passed down throughout the years. “We are finding new ways of disciplining children and that is what people need to understand; you don’t need to hurt them in order to discipline them,” Greene said.
She further explained that since the whole issue of abuse in the home has risen considerably, the agency is providing counseling to parents who have issues in disciplining children.
“If you look at our data, ‘hurt’ is in the home for a child and the home is proven to be unsafe for a child. This is the place where a child is supposed to feel safe and secure and the parent is the major perpetrator,” the Director lamented.
Greene believes that more emphasis needs to be placed on educating parents on how to discipline their children. “Being a parent is the only job you don’t need qualifications”, Greene said.
According to Greene, many young parents who visit the agency are not psychologically ready to be parents adding that the children of such parents are more vulnerable to abuse.

Exploitation of children (Rent a baby)  
Have you ever taken a walk on the pavements of downtown Georgetown and seen children begging for money with their thumbs in their mouths, or were you ever stopped in the street by young children who ask for signatures and donations for a club or organization?
According to Greene, these children are being exploited.
“When you give children money on the road, you are taking part in the exploitation of children. No one should give any child money and I want to send that message to persons out there,” Greene said.
She gave the example of a young man who begged on the streets to fund his father’s drug habits. “He used to have to dodge his father because he used to turn him upside down and collect all the money he had,” Greene said.
Greene said that child exploitation of this sort is widely practiced in Guyana.
There has however been a significant decrease in the number of children who illegally solicit funds from persons on the streets.
Greene also highlighted the case of a woman who rented a baby to solicit sympathy while begging for money at city banks in Georgetown. “This woman use to take this child and go beg in the streets and the mother of the child use to get paid in return,” Greene said.
The child was eventually taken away from the mother by the Child Protection Agency.
“Children rarely overcome abuse and they have secret pains which they take into adulthood. It later affects their relationships”, Greene asserted.

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