Child advocate questions the decline in child abuse cases revealed by CCB

Outspoken children’s advocate Shelly Ross is questioning the Child Care Board’s (CCB) recent revelation that there has been a dramatic drop in reports of child abuse in Barbados.

In fact, Ross said the only reason the staterun CCB was able to release statistics last Friday showing that cases have been falling steadily over the past five years, is because the number of persons reporting cases is also on the decline.

Ross believes that the reason the social agency has said that cases have decreased from 1 446 during the 2015-2016 period, to 611 at the end of the 2019-2020 period, is because Barbadians have lost confidence in the board, following years of unfavourable responses to their reports.
She added that she would not be surprised if the CCB continues to report a drastic decline in child abuse cases.

“I saw the report and it disappoints me because I know that there is rampant child abuse across Barbados. I receive calls very often with people asking me how they can report child abuse and if I say, ‘call the Child Care Board’ they don’t want to do it. Many people have no confidence in the Child Care Board.

“The Child Care Board is not handling reports the way that they should be handled and as far as I am concerned people have no trust in the Child Care Board. When you look at it, we have been hearing of many cases of abuse where the board failed and nothing has been done about it. These are the things that disappoint people and they do not know where to turn and nothing has been done about the CCB over the years,” Ross said.

The Board’s Chairman, Catherine Jordan, told Barbados TODAY that in 2021 so far 65 cases have been referred to the police for investigation and possible prosecution, compared to 62 cases in 2019.

Meanwhile, Senior Child Care Officer Roxanne Sanderson indicated that there had been few reported cases during the COVID-19 lockdown, but said that the numbers increased when there was ease in the restrictions on movement.

However, Ross said during the lockdown, in some instances, children have been at home in the company of frustrated parents struggling to handle the pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic and having to find ways for their charges to cope with the online school environment.

“There is probably more abuse now during the pandemic than before. I have children that I am aware of that are even hungry, where they are in very delicate situations and the Child Care Board doesn’t know anything about this because family members don’t want to go to the Child Care Board.

“People are frustrated and children are getting lashes for nothing and some of these people still don’t see corporal punishment as child abuse, and that’s another area that you have to question. Do people realize that emotional and physical abuse of children is child abuse and are they going to report that? “So, there is abuse out there which is being ignored. I had a mother call me about giving her four-year-old lashes because he wouldn’t sit quietly and the teacher told her to do something about him,” she explained.

Ross has advised the CCB to engage in more public service announcements and community outreach programmes, to bring a heightened awareness of child abuse to the public domain. She insisted that there is not enough conversation about child abuse taking place in the community which she said could possibly lead to it being accepted.

anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb