Last Updated on June 20, 2021, 5:45 AM AST by Anthony Morris
St Kitts: Acting Director of the Department of Probation and Child Protection Services, Gerald Connor said children have been affected by domestic disputes, as well as economic hardship, caused by COVID-19 locks where some parents have lost their jobs.
During the June 16 issue of ‘Working for You’, Connor talked about some issues that arose with the first exclusion in 2020.
”A father can no longer afford to help pay the rent because he is probably working on construction and working in one of the vulnerable areas that has hit one of the hardest blows, and therefore he can no longer support the family. To continue the whole family process, people need to find other ways to get their support to continue their household,” he said.
“Economic downturn, where you can no longer afford sugar or milk; these are times when the social safety net must come into play and we must ensure that we strengthen the social safety net to take up many situations during this time,” said Connor said.
He also said that a number of problems were also caused due to a lack of togetherness.
“We found a lot of problems that played out from the first time due to the lack of co-parenting. “We have a society that does not understand how to act with parents, and that is one of the biggest challenges we face,” Connor said.
“You would notice that relationships broke down, that people had to leave their families for some reason, that you had problems with co-parenting, that you had families where there was constant quarreling and that the children were trapped in the middle,” said the Acting Authority Director.
Some of these most vulnerable people caught in the middle are children who are still at home, sixteen years old, and parents cannot help them because the funds have dried up and predators have started caring for older men, he added.
He said the department had received reports of cases where this type of care was also done with young men, which was caused due to the vulnerability that arose in the homes due to the lockdown.
Anthony Morris covers stories related to politics and regional developments. His in-depth reporting about governance and reforms makes him stand out in regional journalism, with a deep analysis of political trends and their impact on Caribbean communities.
