Princes Town MP Barry Padarath wants the Children’s Authority to say whether the recommendations of the Justice Judith Jones report have been implemented, and if so, to what extent.
The report examined the operations of children’s homes, while his call comes in the wake of reports of abuse at a facility in Couva.
Mr Padarath says it is “deeply worrying” since the alleged perpetrator is a minor, with claims as well that authorities at the home were aware of the abuse, but failed to act.
He says one of the report’s recommendations was to ensure rigorous background checks and periodic psychometric evaluations for caretakers at the homes.
He believes if this had been done, the situation at the home could have been uncovered earlier and addressed.
Padarath claimed that despite several instances of abuse at children’s homes coming to the forefront, the Authority continues to drop the ball in the protection of our nation’s children.
He further issued a call for Minister of Gender and Child Affairs, Ayanna Webster Roy to “make heads roll at the Children’s Authority for not implementing the recommendations of the Justice Judith Jones report and for failing to do better with respect to monitoring the operations of the homes.”
He also called on the minister to say whether the budget appropriated for the Children’s Authority was disbursed to them to implement the recommendations needed for monitoring, security and evaluation.