BY JOY-ANN GILL | SEP 1, 2023
L-R: Permanent Secretary of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs, Jehu Wiltshire and Acting Director of Child Care Board, Colin St. Hill, speaking at a Press conference to discuss a recent child removal order. (F.Belgrave/BGIS)
The intervention by the Child Care Board (CCB) was necessary to ensure the safety of two young children placed in their care earlier this week.
This was emphasised yesterday by Acting Director, Colin St. Hill, during a press conference held at the CCB’s headquarters, Fred Edghill Building, Cheapside, The City. It was called to give Government’s response to the situation of the homeless young lady, Danae Gibbons, whose two children are in the care of the CCB but are expected to be back with her come Monday, September 4.
Mr. St. Hill, in detailing the involvement of his organisation, said: “I think that we all can agree that a mother with two young children, for any period of time, staying among persons who might be homeless, and on the road, by the Treasury Building, [that] when we carry out our assessment of such a situation, that would not be an ideal situation for children…
“The children would be deemed at risk because persons who are homeless, we are not sure of their condition. Some might have mental health issues; some might have [a] drug history. By the Treasury Building, itself, that is not a safe place for a three-year-old to be located for any period of time. It is quite close to the road. So, when one does an assessment, it is quite clear it really would not be a safe environment for children to be in.”
The Acting Director, who noted that the CCB would have spoken to the mother about the situation, said: “And, she would have voluntarily agreed that the children could come temporarily into the homes of the Child Care Board. We, normally, have a parental agreement form, which was explained to her and which she readily signed in the presence of the police officers.
“Arrangements would have been made for the mother to visit the children when it was convenient for her…. We all would have discussed this and once we saw the mother in a position where she could adequately provide care and housing for her children, it was a situation [then] where the Child Care Board would allow those children to be returned to the mother.”
He maintained that it was not a situation where the mother was being accused of being abusive to, or neglecting the children. He noted, instead, it was just a situation where the mother was on the road with the children, the same day rain was falling heavily. Stating that it was not an ideal situation for the children, he said as a result, the CCB provided temporary care for the children and recognised it was emotional for the mother and children, at that point in time, to be separated.
Mr. St. Hill, emphasising that the Child Care Board had to intervene in order to ensure the safety of the children, added that had there been a family member who could come forward and provide adequate care, the CCB would have willingly worked with them. “We would have assessed that situation and therefore we would have preferred for those children to be with family members, or any person who the mother would have identified…. Once we did the necessary assessment, we would have gone about assessing those individuals and placing those children with that family member, or [that] person whom the mother identified…,” Mr. St. Hill stated. While noting that no such person came forward, he said the CCB would continue to work with the mother to reunite her with the children as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs, Jehu Wiltshire, noted it was “unfortunate” the matter had to be ventilated on social media, since the Ministry treats such matters in “a more sensitive way”. He gave the assurance that the children would soon be with their mother.
He further said the Ministry was happy to state that temporary accommodation had been found for them, and the mother would be relocated on Monday with the children. Also, pointing out that the Ministry recognised several of these cases existed, Mr. Wiltshire added: “We have a paper which is going to be submitted to the Cabinet shortly for the establishment of a 24-hour shelter to deal with cases such as this.
“Since COVID and during COVID, we have recognised that there have been several instances of situations which have caused persons to be actually evicted from their houses and we are in the process of formulating a policy on homelessness as well as an Action Plan because anecdotal evidence suggests that there has been an increase in homelessness.” He also noted that the Ministry was seeking to carry out evaluations to determine the causes of homelessness in Barbados, with a view to formulate the policy, which is expected before the end of the year.
