275 cases of child abuse recorded in 2025 – Min. Persaud

Feb 16, 2025 News

… Says more childcare and protection officers needed to address demand in services

Kaieteur News-There is need for more childcare and protection officers as the country grapples an increased demand for services, the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security disclosed on Saturday.

Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Vindhya Persaud

So far for 2025, 275 cases of child abuse have been recorded.

Subject Minister Dr. Vindhya Persaud told reporters at a press conference held at the National Communications Network’s (NCN) Studio, Homestretch Avenue, Georgetown that last year, 4,038 cases of child abuse were recorded ranging from physical, emotional, sexual, verbal as well as neglect.

Minister Persaud said her ministry, through the Childcare and Protection Agency which has oversight and responsibility for children across the country, will continue to work on keeping every child safe.

“To have this happen the way we want it to happen requires education, required information, and requires capacity building within the Childcare and protection agency and also requires us to interface with stake holders, parents and caregivers of children,” Dr. Persaud said.

She noted that over time, the ministry delivered several porgrammes and “a few of those programmes involve our parenting programme. This was a new initiative that was developed, a trainer of trainers was developed a workbook for parents and this program is in the early stages, where we work with parents on parenting techniques and skills when it comes to raising children in dealing with the various dimensions of childcare.”

Sherry Franswa, the assistant director of the CCPA (screen grab from the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security press conference)

Meanwhile, the Childcare and Protection Agency (CCPA) recorded 1,203 child sexual cases in 2024, with Region Four recording the highest number of cases, Assistant Director of the CCPA Sherry Franswa said on Saturday.

Franswa told reporters that in Region Four, 466 cases were reported last year. She said that in Region One 52 cases were reported while 181 in Region Two, 145 in Region Three and 83 in Region Five were reported.

In Regions Six and Ten, 148 and 48 cases were reported respectively.

In contrast, the lowest numbers were recorded in Regions Seven, Eight, and Nine. Region Seven reported 10 cases, Region Eight 21, and Region Nine 50 cases.

Meanwhile, Minister Persaud disclosed that there is an urgent need for more childcare and protection officers to meet the growing demand for child protection services in the country.

The minister told reporters that there are only 48 officers currently deployed across various regions and that the current workforce is insufficient.

“There has been a lot of work…we are challenged by the lack of human resources, (and) we would love to have more childcare and protection officers on board,” Persaud said.

She added, “We are continuously advertising for officers, social workers, and this has been a constant discussion with the University of Guyana because that’s the institution that will normally have the training done for social workers, we have pretty much once persons apply, we definitely employ them.”

Dr. Persaud disclosed that her ministry is exploring the creation of a rapid response team that will operate at nights to address cases being reported after official working hours.

She said the creation of that team will mark a significant shift from the traditional approach to childcare and protection. However, this new initiative is also challenged by the lack of personnel.

“It is a process and it’s something that I hope that more persons out there will recognize the need to be in an arena of social work that focuses on children. We can only encourage.”

(275 cases of child abuse recorded in 2025 – Min. Persaud

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