00:00The Joint Select Committee of Parliament today heard that there's a pressing need to change the way the nation treats
00:07its children.
00:08Officials from the Children's Authority of Trinidad and Tobago revealed that despite ongoing awareness campaigns,
00:14the number of reports of suspected child abuse remains high.
00:18That has not reduced the number of reports coming to the authorities in the average as of this month of
00:26411 calls coming to the authority based on allegations of abuse.
00:32Certainly that speaks to our need for an entire community to really reorganize, readdress the way we treat our children.
00:41The issue came under scrutiny as the committee examined conditions in children's homes and allegations of abuse within those institutions.
00:49While officials say complaints have declined slightly, concerns remain.
00:53With regard to fiscal 2023 to 2024, there were 16 complaints received.
01:02The following fiscal, there were 10 complaints received.
01:06And what action followed those complaints?
01:08Those complaints trigger that investigation by the authority as well as any other stakeholder, particularly the police.
01:17Officials explain that wards of the state have several channels to report abuse.
01:22We have provided instructions, advice to our therapeutic intervention providers
01:28because sometimes a child may feel more comfortable to share in a therapeutic safe space.
01:34And so that's one of the areas that we explore those areas of any challenge that a child may be
01:41experiencing within the therapeutic space.
01:44In addition, we also have children have the capacity to be able to make the reports to the authorities hotline
01:51or via the PLM team, the placement licensing and monitoring team, who also engage them individually.
01:57But chairman of the committee, Ernesto Kizar, said he was concerned that five years after the Judith Jones report into
02:05abuse in children's homes,
02:06the root causes have not yet been fully addressed.
02:10Five years have gone.
02:12And as Senator Alexander would have indicated, the last report before that would have been 1997.
02:18And we have not been able to see the core reason, the core contradiction, if you want to use that,
02:28not being properly well addressed.
02:31The reduction, the complete reduction, or I mean, to say eradication, it might be a bit overzealous,
02:39but the complete reduction of child abuse in children's homes.
02:44Chairpersons of the Children's Authority of Trinidad and Tobago told the committee that many of the report's recommendations have been
02:52implemented.
02:53Judith Jones' recommendations that are applicable to the authority have been documented and tracked and inserted in the KPIs of
03:02the organization.
03:03And so I can tell you that as of today's date, we are at about 80 percent completed with the
03:11recommendations as applicable to the authority.
03:13The remaining 20 percent lie within the development of policies that would govern some of the actions and guide our
03:20practices and so on.
03:22And those policies are either at the stage of being already drafted or moving through the stages of approval.
03:31Another challenge facing the authority is preparing wards of the state who are approaching adulthood to transition into independent living.
03:39In 2026, we have geared to age out.
03:43In 2026, meaning turning 18, 77 children in community residence have been identified,
03:50and we are in the process of building our transition plans well on the way because the time of transition
03:58is nearing.
03:59In reception centers, we have 12 children whose cases are being managed, and part of it is transition plans.
04:06And in care care, we have four such children aging out this year.
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