NASSAU, The Bahamas — A National Committee for Families and Children has been appointed to ensure that all of the provisions of the Child Protection Act, 2007, are implemented in full, Minister of Social Services and Community Development, Melanie S. Griffin said.
Appearing on the Immediate Response Radio Talk Show, hosted by attorney Fayne Thompson, Mrs. Griffin said the appointment of the committee comes five years after the legislation was passed by both the House of Assembly and the Senate in 2007, and three years after the Act came into effect in 2009.
“That committee will begin meeting shortly so that they can review the Act and make determinations on what directions they will take to carry out their work under the legislation,” Mrs. Griffin said.
“It is our belief that they will be able to push for some of the things that have not been done since the Act came into effect,” Mrs. Griffin added.
One such area is the provision of proper housing and the establishment of educational and other programmes for residents of the Simpson Penn Centre for Boys and the WillaMae Pratt Centre for Girls who are between the ages of 16-18.
Mrs. Griffin said that in raising the age-level of those children who could be committed to the Centre from 16 years to age to 18, the Child Protection Act allowed court officials to alternatively commit perpetrators of lesser criminal acts who were in the age-group category to either Centre as opposed to Her Majesty’s Prisons, where they would interact with more older, hardened criminals.
She said no provisions were made to accommodate in separate facilities and/or facilitate the 16-18-year-olds at the Simpson Penn (Centre for Boys) and WillaMae Pratt (Centre for Girls) since the implementation of the Act, which has produced some “challenges.”
“This is an area the Committee will be able to address as it has been presenting a major challenge at those facilities and so we are looking to address building facilities for that age-group,” Mrs. Griffin said.
“There is also a need to provide psychological and other programmes for them, which has not been happening, and so we want to ensure that these things happen and that the Act is brought fully into force. Once we get the committee fully operational, they will be responsible for ensuring that all of the Regulations are followed,” Minister Griffin added.
Mrs. Griffin said the Act, which is based upon the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of the Child, contains several other positive aspects.
“The Act also gave fathers of children born out of wedlock, the ability to access those children as now he does not have to wait for the mother to take him to court for maintenance to be able to say to the judge ‘I can’t see my child.’ He now has the right to go to the courts and say ‘I need to see my child, the mother is not allowing me to see my child.’
“It has also provided for mothers to be able to seek maintenance for their children beyond the age of three, and up to age of 18 and even further, if the child is still in school, if the child is in college for example, and so the provisions are very strong, very powerful and once we can get them all into force, I think we will be moving in the right direction,” Mrs. Griffin added.
Mrs. Griffin said another important aspect of the Act relates to the provision of Minor Advocates for children needing representation.
“During my first tenure as minister I went into Juvenile Court and sat and watched what was happening in there and saw a 10-year old come before the court without a parent there, or family member there, no sort of representation, of course the social worker was in the court, but you had the juvenile panel, you had the judge and no representation for the child.
“That tugged at my heart. I knew that the child had to be there for some misconduct or misbehaviour, but to see them standing there with no parent, no lawyer, it was difficult for me. But we have the opportunity to have the Minor’s Advocate and as I indicated we are going to move forward to really put in place the provisions,” Mrs. Griffin added.
By Matt Maura
Bahamas Information Services
Caption: Minister of Social Services and Community Development, Melanie S. Griffin appears on the New Immediate Response Radio Talk-Show to discuss a number of issues relative to her ministry and the Department of Social Services. Mrs. Griffin is pictured with Show Host, Attorney Fayne Thompson. (BIS Photo/Raymond Bethel)
