Cops pick up child beggars at city market

Nov 18, 2020 News

The Director of the Child Care and Protection Agency (CPA).

Kaieteur News – Two child beggars were on Monday picked up by ranks of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) at a city market, according to a statement by the Child Care and Protection Agency (CPA).
This publication was told that two boys, a 9-year-old and a 13-year-old, were picked up and placed in the custody of the CPA. According to the statement, after the 9-year-old boy was handed over to CPA, contact was made with his mother who told CPA that her son was beyond parental control and was away from home for one week.
Kaieteur News understands that the child would frequently run away from home and would sleep out for weeks. The child told the CPA officers that he slept at a game shop in the city and that most of his earnings from begging were spent at the game shop.
The statement revealed that officers of the CPA are on the case and individuals could be charged for placing a child in a position that needs protection and harbouring a child at such an environment.
“Children should not be on the streets begging. A child doing this is a child in need of protection. Help us get the children off the streets. Be part of the solution and not part of the problem,” the statement highlighted.
When contacted, the Director of the CPA, Ann Greene in a telephone interview with this publication yesterday, stated that the money that the child beggars make, they use it to buy food and drink instead of using the money to go home.
She added, “You are part of the problem if you are giving them money instead of asking them where their parents are…and question them.”
Kaieteur News had reported that CPA has taken a further leap into removing child beggars from the streets of Guyana, with the assistance of the GPF. Greene explained that the police will be responsible for enforcing the law on persons found guilty of enabling child begging. She has been stressing the importance of having parents/guardians and anyone else who allow child begging, or forces a child to beg on the streets, to be charged to the full extent of the law.
The agency over the months has picked up a number of child beggars from the streets of Georgetown and they are being housed by the agency. Reports stated that many of them were picked up by traffic lights and other areas around the city. Greene had also stated that having these children on the streets puts them in a vulnerable position. She highlighted that many child beggars find themselves being sexually exploited, among other atrocities.
Last week, three child beggars were picked up by patrolling ranks in the same market.

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