A dedicated court to deal with instances of abuse at children’s homes, counselling for children placed in homes, and increased training for residential staff were some of the recommendations from a collaborative webinar hosted by the US Embassy Port of Spain and the International Women's Resource Network (IWRN) on Thursday.
US Embassy representative Rose Rodgers said it was important for the public to have access to the knowledge of how to build a violence-free environment. She said it was important to break the circle of violence early.
The webinar came in the wake of the release of the 2022 Justice Judith Jones report and the revelation of the 1997 Sagba report, which revealed decades of abuse at children’s homes in TT.
TT Association of Social Workers president and former Children’s Authority chairman Hanif Benjamin said the children who had been in the homes investigated in 1997 experienced and are living with strong complex trauma that would have changed the direction of their lives.
“The premise in discussing these two reports has moved from how to save children and reduce the trauma to who, what, why, and where. I’ve been having this conversation for a long time and I’m fed up with it, because no-one was listening. I hope we’ll be able to put our collective skills and expertise together to find a way forward, but forgive me if I’m cynical about anything happening past today.”
He said training was often the first item cut by state agencies because it was not seen as a priority but it was an essential part of any movement forward.
“If child protection is a system, we need to be serious about building the system and ensuring it works. We need to put children first, and understand they are the most vulnerable in society.”
IWRN youth advisor Pearl Yatali-Gonzalves said she grew up in St Dominic’s Orphanage and experienced some of the trauma that residents went through.
“I was fortunate enough to get support that helped me with the trauma and to get me where I am today. The reports showed the ugly side of our society in terms of our treatment of children in care. If knowledge is power, how long will we continue to get the knowledge before we take action? Nothing has changed.”
She said as a nation, people disrespect and abuse each other at every level. She said any way forward needs to start with the recognition that people need to respect each other.
“We need many more social workers. Social work is seen to be free through the government, so people are not accustomed to paying for it and think the government is helping them, but as we have seen they are not able to do everything needed. My recommendation is that we have legislation around social workers so we can understand their place in child protection and let them do the work they are trained to do in the way that it is needed.”
IWRN director Gail Merhair said those who knew about the 1997 report and said nothing were a bunch of “spineless cowards who have only chosen to come out of the darkness 40 years later. (sic) It is heart-breakin
