Webster-Roy: Over 4,000 reports of child abuse in 2019

MINISTER in the Office of the Prime Minister Ayanna Webster-Roy appealed to adults to do right by the nation's children.

She made this appeal after revealing there were over 4,000 reports of child abuse in 2019.

Webster-Roy also declared that unless all citizens take personal responsibility for their action, the scourge of domestic violence will not end, regardless of how many initiatives the Government spearheads to tackle the problem.

In her contribution to the budget debate in the House of Representatives on Monday, Webster-Roy said out of the 4,000 reported cases of child abuse in 2019, some 54.4 per cent involved girls and 43.3 per cent were cases of boys being abused.

"I would like to encourage all of us, as adults, to really consider what we are doing to our nation's children," Webster-Roy continued. "I often say when I speak to the public, the seeds that we sow into the lives of our children today, the fruits we will reap as a nation tomorrow. I have often urged us to sow good seeds.

"We have to do right by the boys and girls of TT."

Stressing that Government will do all it can to ensure the nation's children are happy, healthy and their rights are upheld, Webster-Roy said the delivery and communication plan for the National Child Policy will go before Cabinet soon.

On adoption, Webster-Roy said, "What we recognise is that although we want people to adopt children, although there are persons willing to adopt, in some instances we have children in homes who are eligible for adoption, but because their parents are holding on to them, they don't have the opportunity to be adopted into a loving, stable family environment."

Webster-Roy encourged parents who have children in such circumstances to allow them to be adopted.

After noting steps being taken by Government to tackle domestic violence, Webster-Roy said, "Unless the people of TT make a conscious decision, at a personal level, to do better and be better, they may never be able to overcome this challenge."

She added that people need to examine what they do in their homes and how boys and girls are socialised in their respective communities. Some of the people who are most vocal about domestic violence, she said, are the same people who post videos of domestic violence on social media

Webster-Roy, who is also Tobago East MP, said her constituency has benefited considerably under the PNM, with more development is on the way. She praised the Tobago House of Assembly for hosting a virtual Tobago Heritage Festival this year, in light of the covid19 pandemic.