by Mervin Matthew & Emmanuel H. Joseph
Government Information Service
 Place of Safety at Jimmit
A place of safety for children at risk was officially opened in Jimmit on Wednesday, 13th April, 2011. The over three million dollar facility dubbed “ Chances” will house about thirty children who have been victims of psychological, physical or sexual abuse for a maximum of six months.
Hon. Minister for Social Services, Community Development and Gender Affairs, Gloria Shillingford, sees the facility as a step closer to providing adequate and secure shelter for young people who suffer abuse.
“Over the years, the Welfare Division has had to craft strategies in response to the growing incidence of reported cases of child abuse in Dominica. But not only cases of sexual abuse, but also physical and psychological abuse and to a lesser extent, abandonment. The statistics on such cases is real cause for concern. The responsibility of finding secure places for these children once they were removed from the endangering environment has not been easy to discharge. This facility brings us a step closer in overcoming the difficulty encountered in providing a safe and secure home for these children at risk.”
 Hon. Minister for Social
Services, Community
Developmentand Gender
Affairs, Gloria Shillingford
Hon. Prime Minister, Roosevelt Skerrit, is confident that the services offered at the facility will bring about positive change in the lives of children at risk.
“This is so because this house of safety represents a landmark achievement in the mission of this Government to eradicate inequality among our children and young people. I find the acronym, ‘Chances’ most appropriate for this facility. There is no doubt that the purpose of this place of safety is to improve the life chances of children and young people who are vulnerable, abused or excluded. The greatness of a nation is to be judged not by the number of millionaires it generates, important as this is, but by the care and protection it provides to its vulnerable, disadvantaged and abused citizens. That care and protection do not constitute an end but rather, it allows those at risk to experience and share the benefits of a normal family where members love, respect and protect each other. In other words, the place of safety is intended to contribute to the creation of socially well-adjusted children and young people at risk of going astray and adopting lifestyles that would be detrimental to themselves and to the wider society.”
 Hon. Prime Minister,
Roosevelt Skerrit
The Hon. Prime Minister went on further to state that all nationals need to come on board in the protection of the island’s children.
He explained that government would adopt all avenues to facilitate the protection of children but a lot depends on the support from the public.
“There is a limit to what the State alone can do on this matter. There State cannot legislate that parents should love or act responsibly towards their children. However, the State can act to strengthen the child maintenance laws to that children are not left wanting for food, clothing and shelter. I have stated Government’s intention to introduce legislation to garnish the wages and salaries of delinquent fathers in the first instance. Government is also fully aware that some parents deliberately frustrate the efforts of law enforcement by retracting statements that they gave to the police about abusers of themselves and their children or by simply having a change of heart when the day arrives for the matter to be heard in the courts. Government is seeking to correct this injustice meted out to our children by some parents by introducing legislation that will hold them accountable for causing a waste of scarce resources of law enforcement agencies.
I told your earlier, there are is a limit to what the State alone can do in treating the issue of children and young people at risk. The response has to be a societal one including the church, civil society, the private sector and the State.”
The Prime Minister is very concerned about the incidence of child abuse and neglect in Dominica.
“Statistics compiled by our own Social Welfare Division for 2010 informs that thirteen (13) children became pregnant. In addition, reported cases of sexual abuse numbered one hundred and fifty-four (154). The collective conscience of the nation should not rest until this scourge of abuse has been eradicated from our society as one case of child abuse is one too many.”
Hon. Parliamentary Representative for the Mahaut Constituency, Rayburn Blackmoore, and former Manager of Action for Children Shirley Stuart also addressed Wednesday’s ceremony.
Hon. Parliamentary Representative for the Mahaut Constituency, during his address at the official opening of “Chances” spoke of some of the subventions provided to the institutions between 2010 and present.
 Hon. Parliamentary
Representative for the
Mahaut Constituency,
Rayburn Blackmoore
“Operation Youth Quake - one hundred and thirty-nine thousand, four hundred and twenty-six dollars (XCD$139 426.00), salaries to head mistress of Alpha Centre - twenty-one thousand dollars (XCD$21 000.00), grant to the Alpha Centre - three thousand, nine hundred and sixty dollars (XCD$3 960.00), Dominica Save The Children Fund - three thousand, nine hundred and sixty dollars (XCD$3 960.00), Child Abuse Prevention Unit – forty-four thousand dollars (XCD$44 000.00), House of Hope in Delices – thirteen thousand, two hundred dollars (XCD$13 200) and the Dominica Nursery Committee – four thousand, four hundred and twenty dollars (XCD$4 420), an aggregate of two hundred and thirty thousand, seven hundred and twenty-six dollars (XCD$230 726.00) by way of subvention in one year.” |
