The Children's Authority is urging parents and guardians to ensure that proper care and supervision mechanisms are in place for their charges over the Carnival season.
Ahhalia Ramdass a Psychologist at the Authority's Assessment Unit warns that failure to do so is against the law.
00:00According to Ahalya Ramdas, the Children's Act Section 4 states that a parent or person who is legally liable to maintain a child shall be deemed to have neglected the child if they failed to provide food, clothing or lodging for that child.
00:18She says, while there are various types of neglect under the law, supervisory neglect is especially critical here.
00:25That is leaving your child unattended or in the care of a minor, that is what we consider supervisory neglect.
00:34So even leaving your child unattended to go to the parlour down the street, that is neglect.
00:40Leaving your child overnight because you've gone to a party and you think while they're sleeping at home in the house they're safe, that is neglect.
00:47She further advises parents to pay attention to the online activity of their children.
00:53Ms Ramdas warns that parents should check the sites the children are utilising.
00:58Even the gaming platforms that children use that have these chat rooms that give access to persons, to your children who may be on the other side of the world.
01:06And we want to be in the know that more and more predators are using online platforms to access our children, to groom our children, to isolate our children from us so that they can take advantage of our children.
01:22Ramdas is admonishing parents to pay attention to signs of abuse or discomfort displayed by their children in the presence of certain adults.
01:32She says it's okay for them not to hug and to kiss everyone.
01:37We want to sit on their laps because more and more persons, even within our family, that are predators are using these opportunities to sexually abuse our children, to groom our children.
01:47And we want to be sure that our children know it's okay to say no.
01:51The psychologist further warns caregivers to look out for inappropriate jokes being made by the adults in the presence of children.
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