Child protection crisis

Mar 05, 2026 Editorial, News

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(Kaieteur News) – The disturbing image of two officers of the Childcare and Protection Agency (CPA) dragging a schoolgirl through the Stabroek bus park should haunt this nation. It is not merely a public relations embarrassment for the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security; it is a damning indictment of a child protection system that appears to have lost its moral compass.

The video, now widely circulated, shows officers manhandling a child in her school uniform, at one point pulling her by her hair as bystanders objected. These are the very individuals entrusted with safeguarding vulnerable children. Instead, the child was treated like a common criminal.

Minister Vindhya Persaud has since confirmed that the officers were suspended and that the Guyana Police Force has been called in. Suspension is necessary. But it is not sufficient. What we witnessed was not simply the misconduct of two rogue officers. It exposed a deeper cultural and structural malaise within the CPA. This episode unfolded against the backdrop of the CPA’s much-publicised “Street Light Activity” — joint patrols with the police aimed at targeting truancy at city bus parks. Thirty students were reportedly rounded up during the first sweep. We are told officers interacted with them to reinforce the importance of school attendance. But when enforcement morphs into humiliation and force, the exercise ceases to be protective and becomes punitive.

Child protection cannot be reduced to dragnet-style patrols. Truancy is often a symptom of deeper social problems; poverty, abuse, neglect, hunger, mental health struggles. Dragging a child through a public space does not address any of these root causes. It merely compounds the trauma. Equally troubling are the recent tragedies involving two teenage mothers: 14-year-old Aleena Preetam and 15-year-old Tiana Chapman. Aleena died from heart failure and anaemia just weeks after giving birth. Tiana was stabbed 25 times and remains hospitalised. In both cases, glaring questions arise about whether the statutory mechanisms designed to protect minors were activated.

The age of consent in Guyana is sixteen. Any pregnancy involving a 14- or 15-year-old is, by definition, a red flag. Medical professionals are mandated to report such cases. The CPA is required to intervene to ensure safe placement, if necessary, to investigate the circumstances and to pursue perpetrators where statutory rape is involved.

Former CPA Director Ann Greene has publicly expressed anguish and concern about what appears to have been a failure of intervention. Her comments should not be dismissed lightly. She led the very agency now under scrutiny. When a former head raises alarm about systemic weaknesses, it demands urgent, transparent review not defensiveness.

The political party We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) has also called for an independent operational review of the child protection system. That recommendation deserves serious consideration. The pattern is too troubling to ignore: public manhandling of a schoolchild; apparent gaps in responding to underage pregnancies; complaints of overburdened, undertrained staff; reports of low morale and resignations among qualified officers. If indeed the agency is understaffed and populated by insufficiently trained personnel, that is a management failure. If discrimination and mistreatment are driving experienced officers away, that is an administrative scandal. If social workers are paid so poorly and supported so weakly that attrition becomes the norm, then the ministry must accept responsibility.

Child protection is not an area where shortcuts can be tolerated. These are not files and statistics; these are children, often poor, often voiceless, often already traumatised. When systems fail them, the consequences are irreversible.

What, then, must be done?

Firstly, an immediate independent audit of the CPA and Probation and Social Services should be commissioned, with its findings made public. The review must assess staffing levels, training standards, caseload ratios, response protocols, and inter-agency coordination.

Secondly, mandatory retraining in child rights, de-escalation techniques, and trauma-informed care must be implemented for all field officers. There can be no repetition of the Stabroek disgrace. Thirdly, clear, published protocols should govern the handling of underage pregnancies. Every case must trigger documented assessment, intervention, and follow-up. Silence and inaction cannot be options.

Fourthly, government must address compensation and working conditions. Chronic underpayment and burnout erode professionalism and invite mediocrity. Protecting children requires investing in the professionals tasked with that duty. Finally, oversight mechanisms must be strengthened. An independent complaints body, accessible to the public, would allow grievances to be investigated without fear or favour.

The image from Stabroek should serve as a wake-up call. A society is judged by how it treats its most vulnerable. At present, the verdict is not flattering. Suspension of two officers may placate public outrage temporarily. But unless systemic reform follows, more tragedies and more humiliations may lie ahead.

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• Child Protection, Childcare and Protection Agency, Editorial, Ministry of Human Services and Social Security

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