Trudy Simpson, Staff Reporter
CHILDREN ARE still at risk in some children's homes and places of safety nearly two years after reports of physical and sexual abuse of state wards prompted a review of various facilities, says human rights lobby group, Jamaicans For Justice (JFJ).
However, health officials say they are taking steps to protect state wards.
In a periodic update recently submitted to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), JFJ said, "...The
government's efforts in improving the welfare of children in residential care are illusory and remain focused solely on administrative reform. A realistic assessment of the situation shows that children in residential homes are no more protected from abuse than they were at the time of the government's 1999 'Faces of Residential Care' report or, indeed, at the time of the request for precautionary measures, which has triggered this periodic update."
This is despite the Keating committee's recommendations to overhaul several systems, it said. JFJ said investigations carried out in three children's homes between October and December 2004 showed that serious problems still exist.
It said staff in some facilities, some in senior positions, still lack formal training in social work, child care or counselling. Some workers are also unaware of standards that govern residential care.
"Monitoring of places of safety and children's homes remains inconsistent, and homes fail to record critical incidents of child abuse or maintain critical incident logbooks, which increases the risk of cases of child abuse going unreported," JFJ said.
TAKING STEPS
Up to press time, the health ministry did not respond to queries from The Gleaner. However, in their own periodic review (obtained by The Gleaner), health officials stated that they are taking steps to protect the children. Among these actions are plans to establish the Children's Advocate's office in April 2005. Health officials said they met with stakeholders and distributed operating guidelines for residential care and regulations governing facilities under the recently-enacted Child Care and Protection Act. In previous Gleaner reports, the agency said that they were seeking to hire more qualified staff.
Health officials said critical incident logbooks are maintained within all facilities to record any unusual occurrences. These are investigated and submitted to a serious case review panel.
"One incident has been referred to the serious care review panel for review since May 2003. A protocol for the management of serious cases has been in place since January 2004 and compliance has been 100 per cent. Corrective action has been taken in all such cases reported, including one staff member sent on indefinite leave and a request for interdiction submitted to the relevant authority," health officials said. They added that they have put in place referral mechanisms for children who require counselling and have increased the number of monitoring officers and visits to institutions.
The JFJ dismissed some of these claims and cited a need for strong support systems for state wards.
"... In these homes (visited), the only counselling available to children was that provided by volunteer, unlicensed nursing assistants who visited the homes during the course of their internship training," the report said. JFJ also expressed concern that there is still no children's advocate, no children's registry and no regulations to accompany the Child Care and Protection Act.
