BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Barbados is observing Child Abuse Awareness and Prevention Month with the government indicating that it is moving ahead with plans to establish secure treatment facilities to manage children deemed “too tough” for child care centers but not deserving of being in the justice system.
“We have children who are too tough in some ways for our children’s home. They need a different type of intervention, [because] they have broken no law, they have committed no crime; [so] they shouldn’t be in the justice system,” said People Empowerment and Elder Affairs Minister Kirk Humphrey.
“There has to be a place in between that allows these children to be treated. That is the secure treatment facility,” he said.
He told reporters that the new Child Justice Bill allowed children before the law court to be sent to a secure treatment facility by a magistrate or judge to avoid contact with the child justice system.
“It is transformative, it is different, and it gives us the best options to be able to address the needs of the children,” Humphrey said as he explained that provisions were made for the secure treatment facility in the Child Protection Bill, and will fall under the Child Care Board which will have the competencies in the area to address the needs of the children there.
Humphrey said the intention was to work with the Ministry of Education to ensure the children would have access to school in the secure treatment facility.
He said his Ministry is also working with the Ministry of Housing and Lands to identify a building where the secure treatment facility could be located.
“Gone are the days when you have these large buildings to house children. Those days are done. We want small facilities; the best intervention is in community care. But if we do have to put them into care, in smaller facilities, that allows us to treat all their needs,” Humphrey added.
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