By Lakhram Bhagirat
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has forced many organisations to rethink how they address issues and provide their services and among those organisations is the Child Care and Protection Agency – particularly social workers in the field.
One thing for certain is that as awareness grows, more and more cases of child abuse are reported, making the work of the social workers even more important. These officers are stretched throughout the country with responsibilities for various areas and with the pandemic restricting their movements, they are now forced to rethink and employ new strategies to address the numerous cases of child abuse.
The Sunday Times Magazine recently spoke to Senior Probation Officer Tanis Boston who is stationed in Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo). The region is demographically the largest administrative region in Guyana, covering the entire Rupununi.
It is also where Guyana shares miles of border with Brazil – a COVID-19 hotspot.
Child Protection is very hands-on. It involves constant contact with the children and their families, A lot of community investigations and monitoring to ascertain the client’s well-being is done. It involves teaching, counselling and guiding, and so much more. The fact that the public is asked to practice social distancing in this global health pandemic and the rising number of cases in this particular region have greatly affected this aspect of child protection and the way in which social workers now interact with clients.
“This pandemic has forced my team to rethink how we respond to every reported case of child abuse. Yes, home visitations are being conducted. The hospitals and police stations continue to refer cases of sexual abuse. My presence is still required at the Lethem Magisterial Court and court reports prepared and submitted when the need arises,” Boston related.
The probation officer related that for her region, they are now conducting special parental training individually as opposed to it being done as a group. Further, all group activities have been put on hold or are being conducted in an individual setting.
Boston came to Region Nine back in 2018 and since then, she has been seeing a steady increase in the number of reported cases of child abuse but related that it is because of increased awareness campaigns. She said that in 2019, the reported cases were significantly higher when compared to previous years. Because of awareness projects and radio programme throughout 2019, the team anticipates an increase of reported cases in 2020.
However, when the data was compared, the reported number of child abuse cases has remained constant.
“I want to stress the word ‘reported’. This is so because children are now isolated from our traditional source of reporters. The most common reporters are teachers/ educators. Children are now away from school and are falling under the radar. It is my fear that there may be a lot going on in families with children being at home with frustrated parents due to loss of employment, poverty and other stress factors that are in direct correlations with COVID-19. Nevertheless, we are getting a number of sexual cases referred by the hospitals and the police stations across the region,” she said.
Before becoming a social worker, Boston was a teacher and was always encouraged to excel at everything she does. Her mother was a firm believer in ensuring that she complete tertiary education. This led her to the University of Guyana where she read for her degree in Sociology and graduated back in 2010.
The following year, she gained employment with the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security as a social worker attached to the CCPA.
For Boston, being a social worker was not her dream career since she has a passion for research.
“While I was teaching, I observed a child who would attend school a little late, sometimes with no lunch and not too tidy. One day she came to school after being absent for a number of days and I noticed her left eyes black and blue. An investigation was launched at school. It was then that I knew that I wanted to continue to work with children but to play a pivotal role in preventing and highlighting child abuse and the effects it has on the child, the family and the community.
“I have been practicing social work for almost a decade now, and my studies in sociology and the many skills training provided by the Agency. I am able to access and understand how society functions, how people in family setting interact and why they may do the things they do. This has helped me to become an advocate for child rights, to promote behavioural change at the family and the community level, and to help everyone that I interact with develop a sense of self-worth. No, social work was not my dream career. No, I did not initially choose social work but social work chose me and I am glad that it did,” Boston explained.
Boston grew up in a big family and always had that support so she is on a mission to ensure that every child has a support system to make them the best version of themselves.
In the midst of this pandemic, she is following the guidelines outlined by the Ministry of Health and the World Health Organisation as she continues to provide top class service to the children in her region. For her colleagues, she urges them to remain committed and stay safe.
“The work we do daily may not be recognised or handsomely rewarded. However, for each person that our intervention has helped, it is one person, one family closer to developing a brighter and happier Guyana. We cannot give up especially in these difficult times where children are most vulnerable. Keep up the good work and let us do this together, one client at a time.”
