New Children's Authority Board appointed

The President has appointed a new board for the Children’s Authority.

A release from the Office of the Prime Minister on Tuesday said Gender and Child Affairs Minister Ayanna Webster-Roy met with the newly-appointed board on December 16.

The members are chairman Dr Carol Logie, deputy chairman Jennifer Boucaud-Blake, Dr Hazel Othello, Dr Gillian Wheeler, Harrilal Seecharan, Denyse Gouveia, Dr Natalie Dick, Keon Cunningham, Marcrina Peters, Rawlinson Agard, Sule Joseph, Maria Baptiste, Laura Davis, and ex-officio member and authority director Nichola Harvey-Mitchell.

The release said the members will serve for three years from the date of their appointment “in pursuance of the mandate of the Children’s Authority to: provide care, protection and rehabilitation for children; investigate and make recommendations with respect to the adoption of children; investigate complaints made by any person with respect to any child who is in the care of a community residence, foster home or nursery; investigate complaints or reports of mistreatment of children; and, monitor community residences, foster homes and nurseries and conduct periodic reviews to determine their compliance with the prescribed standards.”

Topics discussed at the meeting with the minister included the role and function of the board, its reporting arrangements, the proposed amendments to the Children’s Act, and the priority areas of the authority’s strategic plan for fiscal 2021.