Child neglect a worry for Child Care Board

While the Child Care Board (CCB) is reporting no significant increase in reported cases of child abuse over the last four years, its director, RoseAnn Richards, is highlighting reports of neglect, which are “a cause for great concern”.

She outlined the concerns on Wednesday as she addressed the start of the workshop for faith-based organisations at the 3Ws Oval, The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus.

“We, at the CCB, are receiving increasing reports of neglect, where young children are being seen at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital for ingestion of hazardous substances, such as chemicals, even rat bait; burns to the body; and some who have fallen from their beds.

“But even more worrisome is the number of cases of sexual abuse, where younger children, sometimes between ages four and seven, are going to school and performing fellatio on each other. This is indicative of a lack of supervision or exposure to pornographic material, or worse yet, reports that these younger children are seeing their older siblings watch pornographic videos.”

Richards who lamented that child abuse remains a constant and disturbing issue in Barbados, maintained that it affected children across all socio-economic and cultural backgrounds.

Stressing that despite efforts to fight the societal scourge, she said abuse is still occurring across the island’s landscape. She added: “The Barbadian society is not immune to cases of child abuse. For every case that is reported to the Child Care Board, there are many which may go unreported due to a lack of awareness, fear of damaging the family, the institution’s reputation, or uncertainty about how to proceed.”

The statistics provided showed that for the last four years, the Board recorded over 400 reported cases each year. According to Richards, in 2021, there were 667 children affected, in 2022-2023, 672, and in 2023-2024, 677 children were affected.

While disclosing that statistics for 2024 to the end of March 2025 are not yet completed, she said, “I can assure you that they are in the range of 600.”

Emphasising that the Board could not go it alone on the issue of child abuse, the director noted it was for this reason that they had convened a workshop for different stakeholders, over time, with the intent of sensitising them to the “ins and outs” of child abuse, why it is necessary to report, and why it must be prevented.

She stated: “All of you are important to us in fighting … child abuse within the Barbadian society. So that at the end of the day, while we sensitise, we make every effort to ensure that our children continue to enjoy safe spaces in which they grow, learn, and develop and reach their full potential to be better citizens and make it a better Barbados for all of us.”

Faith-based organisations were the third stakeholders to be sensitised to date. The others included the media and The Barbados Police Service.

The Child Care Board is one of the social agencies under the remit of the Ministry of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs. It is mandated by law to provide child protection services under the Child Care Board Act Cap 381 of the Laws of Barbados, and the Child Care Board Regulations 1985. These services include intake and child abuse prevention, adoption and foster care, residential care and day care.

Child Abuse Awareness and Prevention Month is observed annually in April throughout the Americas. It was initially observed in Barbados in April 2022. This year’s theme was Doing Things Differently: Building Communities, Protecting Our Children.
(BGIS)