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Call for suspension of children’s movement

by Anesta Henry
3 min read
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Women rights activist Marsha Hinds wants the law courts to suspend access orders until January 14 arguing that it is not in the best interest of a child to be moving between households during the ongoing COVID-19 environment.

Hinds said despite the recent spike in COVID-19 positive cases on the island, there are some parents, particularly fathers, who “want to force children to switch houses” while the country is fighting a health battle that has led to school being suspended until later this month and workers being encouraged to work from home where possible. Hinds wants the suspension to coincide with the national curfew period which is in place until January 14. Government reinstituted a 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew to limit the movement of people in order to contain the spread of the virus and allow for contact tracing.

“There are male parents who are demanding that their children still have to come to their house because court orders are in place. Now, I think that when things like that happens, it is a clear indication of the motive of the individual who is seeking the access order because a rational parent right now wants their child to be safe.

“A parent who is not weaponizing the court understands that with everything that is going on in the island, the best thing for a child right now is to remain in the care of the custodial parent with computer-assisted access for the visiting parent. That is not something that a court has to say to a rational parent who has the interest of their child at heart,” she said.

The President of the National Organization of Women (NOW) added: “We need the court to make a statement in this COVID-19 period to suspend access orders until January 14 when business is supposed to go back to normal in Barbados. Really and truly nobody should have to ask for that outside of the government.

Hinds explained that in cases where there is no intimate partner violence and there is a healthy co-parenting relationship, such issues do not become a matter of concern at these times. She made it clear that her call is not to take away the rights, of healthy participatory fathers, but rather to speak out about perpetrators who use access to the child to continue their power and control over their victim.

“So they go to the court under the pretense that their intention is to have time with their children. Really what their motive is, is to continue to be exerting power and control and abuse over the mother of the child. A lot of that abuse is emotional and in some instances it becomes physical,” she said

“The teams that we construct to be able to manage the island through the COVID-19 pandemic must have all of the important stakeholders so that we can guide our country through the COVID-19 pandemic with the least discomfort. (AH)

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