In the wake of certain events which have seen Barbadians calling for better service delivery from the Child Care Board, a number of measures have been taken to restructure that entity and place it in a better position to protect and serve the island’s children.
Minister of Social Care, Constituency Empowerment and Community Development, Steven Blackett, made mention of the restructuring exercise as he gave his contribution to the Budget debate in the House of Assembly yesterday morning.
He revealed that he has given the Board certain instructions which are being enacted and are bearing some measure of fruit, and if followed through to conclusion, the Child Care Board will be “a far better institution than it is today”.
“I want first of all to give my support to the management and staff of the Board, to continue improving the systems, the processes and the procedures of the Board, and as far as financially and humanly possible, I will ensure that my Ministry allocates the requisite resources to get the job done for our precious little children in this country,” Blackett stated.
“Now it is with this commitment firmly before us, that facilitates our planning and our strategic repositioning of the Board and the building out of the facilities across Barbado,s” he commented.
“First of all, when it comes to the structure of the Board, I have just restructured the directorship to infuse it with persons of some specialised skill sets to better equip the Board to undertake the task that is before them, in a changing Barbados. Now a Barbados that is asking and expecting more of that state agency, in terms of acting swiftly and effectively in arresting any signs of maltreatment of this country’s children and prescribing the corrective action in a timely manner,” Blackett also added.
Outside of the improvement of skill sets at the Board, the Minister indicated that a Memorandum of Understanding has been established with the Royal Barbados Police Force, to ensure effective responses to children who are believed to be suffering abuse. A comprehensive review has also been undertaken of the Board’s information management system that as Blackett put it, “was woefully in need of an upgrade” and that will also lighten the work load of officers.
Blackett also revealed that his Ministry has reached out to UNICEF, requesting some short term institutional strengthening as well as to have a consultant attached to the Board for a six month period. The consultant’s work is now complete he said, and is now being analysed for possible implementation.
The services of Faith Marshall-Harris have also been engaged, Blackett said, to develop a comprehensive child protection policy and assisted legislation and also the establishment of a Mandatory Reporting Protocol of Child Abuse to the police.,,
“So these are the actions we have taken to date to better equip the Board and its work” the Minister asserted. (RSM)
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