Rainbow Rescue runaways handed over to Children's Authority

POLITICAL activist Kezel Jackson on August 13 said she had handed over to Children’s Authority officials two of the three boys who ran away from Rainbow Rescue Home for Boys on August 3.

A statement from the authority later that day said the third boy had also been found and returned to its care.

The three boys disappeared sometime after 4 pm on August 3 and were reported missing to the St Clair Police Station around 8.50 pm on the same day.

Jackson said two of the three boys turned up at her office at the corner of Park and Abercromby Street on August 12, hungry and dressed in wet clothes, asking for help.

She said she believed the duo came to her office as they were familiar with her face, which was on a large poster outside her political party’s headquarters, because of her charitable work.

“I am in these vulnerable areas, the neglected areas, the ostracised and marginalised areas of Trinidad and Tobago. So I am no stranger to probably where they would have once lived.”

She claimed the boys told her they ran away because they did not like how they were treated by staff and other boys at the home.

Newsday contacted a Rainbow Rescue official ,who declined comment and indicated the organisation intended to release a statement on August 14.

Later, a statement from the authority confirmed the return of the three boys.

In the statement, Children's Authority director/CEO Sheldon Cyrus said, “The safe return of the boys is yet another indication of the authority’s principle that child protection is everybody’s business.”

He said the authority thanked the public for their assistance in the boys' safe return, in particular Jackson "for her diligence in helping return two children to the attention of the police."

Cyrus said the boys would get the medical and psychosocial help they needed to deal with any trauma they might have experienced as part of the authority’s process.

The statement added, "The authority has already begun its investigation to determine how the children were able to leave the facility. This inquiry will also address any allegations by the children, as well as review the safety and security measures at the home."

Cyrus, however, took the opportunity to respond to Jackson's criticism of the authority at a media conference on August 12.

He said, "While we appreciate the effort and interest Ms Jackson has shown for the children, it cannot be at the expense of impugning the character and integrity of the people who work at the Children’s Authority and all the people who work in the child protection system. Ms Jackson is the leader of a political party and a civilian, not a legal guardian of the children involved.

"These children, as minors, remain wards of the court and as such are entitled to certain rights and privacy. It is therefore not a ‘right’ of any member of the public to have ready access to these children, who, as she herself indicated, have already been traumatised by the experience.”

The statement added that the authority's hotline number was 996 and was available 24/7.

"The public is strongly encouraged to contact this number, if they suspect a child is in need of care and protection."

It also said the police might be contacted at 999.

Cyrus urged the public to be patient if the hotline was engaged.

"If there is a high volume of calls, at about three minutes into the wait, you will be prompted to use the hotline system’s call-back feature. An automated voice attendant would guide you through the steps to leave your contact number to receive a callback. When an associate is again available, you would be called.”

Earlier, during an interview with Newsday, Jackson also lambasted the Children’s Authority, accusing it of being inefficient.

She claimed after the children turned up at her office on August 12, she and her colleagues spent hours trying to contact the authority’s helpline but received no response.

“From 1 pm, I tried to reach out to them up until 6 pm. No response. I had 11 of my executives that were here. Each one of us has a phone. Everyone was trying to reach them. No one answered.

“If a child was trying to reach out to them and had an emergency, is this what would happen? No reply, no response. They also have an emergency number. Nobody responded.”

Jackson said she spent the evening buying clothes and toiletries for the boys before taking them to eat at a restaurant on Ariapita Avenue.

She said it was not until she contacted a senior police officer that the ball began rolling.

She said she was contacted around 10 pm and asked to bring the boys to the St Clair Police Station to meet a Children’s Authority official.

Jackson said when the boys got there, they made it clear they did not want to return to the children’s home.

She said she promised to remain invested in their lives and provide any assistance she could.

“I said, ‘I will not abandon you all. This is not another false promise by an adult who say that they will stick it out and then after that they forget you and go about their life.’ Because (the boys) will go into a state of abandonment and further trauma.”

Jackson said she contacted state officials to try to visit the boys on August 13, but was told a directive had been given which barred anyone from revealing the boys’ location to members of the public.

She said while she understood the privacy and security concerns, there are ways those concerns could be mitigated.

“If you say, ‘You cannot come to the safe house,’ then there's assessment centres that I could have visited. There's a safe space that would have been mutually beneficial that I could have visited to see these boys.

“If you all are transparent and well-wishing, then (if it were me) I would welcome the support from other entities willing to help.”