Webster-Roy: Government spent $500m on children's homes

MINISTER in the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) Ayanna Webster-Roy has said the Government spent $500 million children's homes from 2016-2023.

She was speaking on Thursday in the budget debate in the House of Representatives.

In the last fiscal year some $54 million was spent taking care of 582 children in care, she added.

Webster-Roy heads the Gender and Child Affairs Division in the OPM.

She said the Government was resolved to create a safer society for Trinidad and Tobago's children now and in the future.

She said child protection had got a boost from the Standing Committee on Child Protection, which included government ministers, permanent secretaries, Tobago House of Assembly (THA) members and others.

"In fiscal 2024 the division will aggressively push forward with our de-institutionalisation effort."

She said rather than children being in residential homes, it was preferable for them to be placed in homes by adoption, fostering or kinship care.

Webster-Roy said 90 per cent of memoranda of understanding had been signed towards towards creating a national children's registry.

"Almost all the data in Tobago has been uploaded. The registry has recorded 140,000 data points."

This data related to areas including education, health, youth affairs and social services.

She said the registry would be an early-warning system for children who may be at risk and in need of urgent care and protection.

Webster-Roy also said the ministry was in the final stages of a child poverty analysis.

Every April child abuse is highlighted through school tours involving sensitisation sessions and outreach activities, she said.

"The more we inform and sensitise the pupils, the better chance we have of eliminating and reducing child abuse in TT."

On gender issues, she reiterated data from Chief Justice Ivor Archie at the opening of the law term. He compared 9,051 court filings to 5,500 cases the previous year. The 9,051 cases comprised 3,173 domestic violence cases, 2,997 divorces and 1,766 maintenance cases.

"As a country we can and must do better. These outcomes are preventable."

Webster-Roy said a recent news story on the death of a child had reported several residents in the area saying they had been aware of problems.

"No one spoke out," she pointed out.

She urged everyone to speak out to expose any abuse of women and children.

"Curbing this disturbing trend of silence needs all hands on deck.

"Why wait until someone becomes a statistic to say what you hear hear, to say what you know, to say what you suspect?

"Today I call on all citizens to be a hero."

Webster-Roy urged everyone to unite to protect the vulnerable.

"I urge all of us not to lose hope in our potential as a people, not to lose hope in our potential as a nation, not to lose hope in our potential to achieve greatness and be great."

On Tobago, she said she had advocated to keep the Moriah Police Station open. She lauded the opening of the Roxborough branch of the Registrar-General's Office and said the Companies Registry would soon be available online in Tobago.

In what seemed to be a message to the THA to prioritise the interest of Tobagonians, she said, "Those who have the ability to end an administrative tit-for-tat – just end it."