Children and Young Persons Act needs more teeth – Social Development Department
BVI News staff reporter - Friday, December 28th, 2012 at 10:50 AM
The Social Development Department (SDD) wants to strengthen and amend the 2005 Children and Young Persons Act to be more effective in dealing with child abuse cases.
The SDD made representation to the Standing Finance Committee highlighting that  the 2005 legislation spells out the process which  should be followed with a child abuse report is made, noting that the police are the first responders and they have the authority to remove an individual, not the Department.
According to the SDD the removal process is not its greatest problem. It highlighted the tremendous challenge of  trying to put the family back together within a three to six month period or determining whether the child should remain in the system or be placed in a home where they could be nurtured.
Meanwhile, Sixth District Representative Alvera Maduro-Caines expressed dissatisfaction with the process involving the police as it is too lengthy and results in the child returning to the same situation.
Child abuse in the Territory
Sexual molestation particularly of youths is a common issue in the territory. Over the last four years, the Social Development Department saw a total 15 assault convictions related to children, 14 which were of a sexual nature.
Two of the 15 convictions were obtained at the Magistrate’s Court, while the remaining 13 were dealt with at the High Court.
There has been a noticeable trending down in the number of  cases of child abuse seen by the Social Development Department over the past three years.
The SDD recorded 74, 63 and 38 cases of child abuse in 2009, 2010 and 2011 respectively.
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startes with parenting
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