#BTEditorial – Our children must be protected

Only a parent can fully appreciate the trauma and heartache that comes when your offspring has been harmed; even worse is the guilt that envelopes you when it might be perceived that, even if only in your mind, that there was something you could have done to prevent the incident.

It is against this backdrop that our hearts break for the parents of a five-year-old primary school student who recently reported that he was sexually assaulted by a man who came onto the school premises and led him away.

His mother, according to news reports, has been severely traumatized by the incident and is now warded at the Psychiatric Hospital. In cases like this, the harm is not limited, for the family is also victimized and scared.

Children face all manner of danger. Their innocence and naivety to the threats that lurk all around them, make them easy targets. They are pursued on the Internet; they are targeted by strangers on the streets, in their homes by family members and associates, and by trusted persons in schools and organisations.

As parents, while we seek to alert them to the perils, we are also cautious to be balanced in addressing these matters because we want our children to enjoy their childhood.

We do not want to turn them into nervous wrecks who are so distrustful of everything and everyone that they develop phobias or become maladjusted adults.

The sexual assault of this innocent child, as reported, ought to be condemned at the highest levels and a full and comprehensive investigation undertaken by the Barbados Police Service to find the culprit.

Equally important, there needs to be an extensive investigation undertaken by the Ministry of Education and measures put in place at all schools to ensure that our children are protected from such heinous acts.

What is ironic is that this and other incidents have occurred during Child Month when our attention is focused on our children.

The issues in this case also cause us to reflect on the ongoing investigation of the Government Industrial Schools for boys and girls. We are forced to reflect on the care and protection of children who are placed in the supervision of the state, who, while in institutional care may also become victims of predators who  seek to take advantage of their vulnerability and the absence of immediate familial protection.

When we see youngsters acting out or turning to criminal or anti-social activities, our immediate response is to judge and punish them. We spend little time digging a little deeper to discover whether these youngsters were victims of crime or some kind of childhood trauma that impacts their current behaviour.

A few months ago, we had a recommendation from a member of the bench, that parents should “put out” bad behaved teens from their homes to teach them a lesson.

While this “lesson” may work for some children and bring them back to some kind of Christian understanding, for others, it has the opposite effect.

Some of these teens who are “put out” and discarded by their families find themselves in deeper and darker situations. Some are preyed upon by drug dealers and men on the block.

Yet others, including boys but especially girls, are preyed on for sexual favours and some end up on our streets as male and female prostitutes.

We know that this is not an easily discussed topic because it forces us to expose the underbelly of our society, and to accept the least flattering aspects of our communities and households.

At the same time, we would be failing in our responsibility were we not to respond seriously to these threats children face and to put measures in place to mitigate such harms.

We endorse the comments of Director of Parent Education for Development in Barbados (PAREDOS), Cecily Clarke-Richmond who called on parents and caregivers to be more vigilant.

“Don’t always take it for granted that your children are going to be with responsible people. People may put up appearances, but in the end, they may have wrong intentions, so you just have to be extra careful, especially now because you don’t know.

“People may mean well, but you have to be very careful with whom you let them go home with and who’s watching them . . . so lay the foundation where they can always come to you,” she urged parents in comments to the media.

This is advice worth heeding.