Hundreds of children caught in wave of abuse, neglect, officials reveal  

Hundreds of Barbadian children have been abused and neglected over the past two years, according to new figures that underline a deepening national crisis in child protection.

More than 800 children have been affected in reported cases since 2024, with neglect being the most prevalent, according to the head of the Social Care Delivery and Support Directorate at the Social Empowerment Agency (SEA), Roseanne Richards.

Richards was speaking at the launch of Child Abuse Awareness and Prevention Month at the HIV/AIDS Conference Room on Wednesday.

She said: “Over the period 2024 to 2025 or 2025 to 2026, we had about 639 reported cases, and those cases affected about 811 children, and of those reported cases, most of the cases came from the parishes of St Michael and Christ Church.”

Among the reported cases, neglect showed the highest incidence, she added. 

“There were more females than males who experience or are impacted by that neglect, be it under supervision, and that’s one of the major reasons for the neglect — under supervision. Once it’s neglect, it flows off into every other area of abuse, be it physical abuse, sexual abuse, or verbal abuse, but neglect is the biggest area of concern as it relates to the reported instances.”

Richards explained neglect as defined under Barbados law.

“If a child is left unsupervised — and according to our law, you shouldn’t leave children under the age of 12 in a house or anywhere by themselves — there must be adequate supervision, and if he or she has to supervise other siblings, it adds more to the neglect.”

She noted that there are several factors affecting the processing of court cases.

“In the social services, we, as subject matter experts, are one group of persons who would be addressing the issue, but in a lot of instances, you have to work with the police. You have to work with the medical personnel and even psychiatrists and psychologists, and then the persons in schools, so it depends on what is involved.”

Minister of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs, Adrian Forde, said that new child protection legislation passed in January includes provisions for mandatory reporting.

“One of the significant features of this legislation is that it has at the forefront mandatory reporting as an integral part of the legislation, where persons who recognise abuse, once they are in the precinct of children, have a duty to report it… and it’s unfortunate that it had to come to legislation for this to happen.”

He stressed that every Barbadian has a duty to report child abuse.

“I believe that every single Barbadian has the inherent duty to protect our children, and if this is the belief and the conviction of every single Barbadian, then our job at the ministry is easier, then the job of this government is made easier. If we abuse one single child in this country, that is one child too much.”

Attention must be directed to safeguarding children’s development and future leadership, Forde added. 

He said: We are talking about persons in the dawn of their life, those who aspire to be global leaders, those who will be at the forefront and leading the charge of Barbados as a small island developing state, and that being said, it is the government’s intention in an unequivocal and unreserved way to protect and ensure that we build out a space in this country that young persons could be protected and given the opportunity to succeed.”

Richards announced that a series of activities would be rolled out for the fifth observance of Child Abuse Awareness and Prevention Month. She revealed that SEA will appear on radio and television programmes throughout the month “to sensitise the public on the issue of child abuse and how we expect them to work with us as partners to address this problem… We will also be doing a number of PSAs… that would be engaging the public’s attention and telling them what they could do to prevent child abuse”. 

A series of workshops will be held in April and May to explore key issues in keeping children safe in digital spaces.

Richards said: “We’re also going to be having a workshop looking at forensic investigation, and this will be done with the Barbados Police Service, social workers, and other responsible persons as it relates to child abuse prevention and awareness. We will also be having another workshop for parents, teachers, and other professionals who will be working closely with children. We also hope to do a safeguarding workshop for our persons in sports.”

These activities will be done in collaboration with UNICEF and other major partners.

The Walk Against Abuse will take place on April 24 in Warrens.

(LG)