CC&PA not very effective in their work – Help and Shelter Coordinator

Help and Shelter Director and Project Coordinator Margaret Kertzious has upbraided the Child Care and Protection Agency (CC&PA) for deficiencies in providing effective care for children who are victims of abuse and neglect.

Kertzious, during an interview with Guyana Times explained that the agency and the local non-governmental organisation had a close collaborative relationship, following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding to refer cases of child abuse to the agency: “We have had a close relationship with the agency in terms of referring child abuse cases and following up on them.”
However, based on referrals, the NGO has become aware of the deficiencies in the agency. She labelled the system for child protection as very “ineffective.”
According to Kertzious: “They are the ones responsible for monitoring cases of child abuse but sometimes they lapse big time….their job is not being done effectively,” she added, pointing to the fact that when the agency would seek their help for emergency placement of children, CC&PA would not provide the relevant information, including the child’s history.
Alluding to other areas of concern, she explained that the shelter has a client that has children in foster care service but is being denied the right to visit them. “Why is this so? The correct procedure is not being followed to ensure that this woman visits her children.”
According to several other Help and Shelter representatives, the shelter is well aware of the deficiencies and absence of an effective, inclusive, transparent and well-publicised national child protection policy, plan and system.
The representatives are of the view that the agency lacks the human and financial resources to adequately respond to the number of child abuse cases reported to them.
However, when contacted Director of CC&PA, Ann Green, opted not to respond to the matter, only saying that she will react at a later date.
Kertzious stated that while there have been many consultations and promises of collaboration between the CC&PA and the shelter, this has not materialised except for the referrals.
She noted that prior to the establishment of the agency, Help and Shelter offered successful psycho-social counselling and court support services to hundreds of children abused, including survivors of sexual violence, but now their face-to-face and court support counselling services are not being utilised by the agency: “These services were successful in the past and we have offered them these services but they have never responded to us.”
Meanwhile, the Help and Shelter representatives stated that while they welcome the provision in the 2017 Budget for parenting programmes, it is still not enough. They however agreed wholeheartedly that all child protection programmes have a duty and responsibility to not only address the needs of children, but also work with parents and guardians in the best interest of children and their families.
Currently, there are over 800 children displaced from their families and living in institutional care.