NGO director says ensure children do not become targets of drug dealers and child abusers

Francis Joseph. *file pic

ChildFund Caribbean (CFC) local Director Francis Joseph is alarmed by the impact of child abuse and concerned over an increase in the number of young people at the Dominica State Prison.

Joseph, who spoke at a handing over ceremony at the Bath Estate Community center yesterday, is also worried about the number of youths being admitted to the Psychiatric Unit of the hospital.

“One of our major concern is our young people who are increasingly at the prisons, increasingly presenting themselves at the Psychiatric Unit. It’s not their fault, we need to find out why, and as a community, as an environment we have to take on the responsibility to help protect our children,” Joseph stated.

He advised, “Even during school period we need to ensure that they go to school, they do their homework and they are supervised, so the home and the community and the environment have that responsibility to ensure that our children are not targets for people to use them to carry drugs and that they are not targets to be abused by family members visiting members within the home.”

ChildFund, formerly known as Christian Children’s Fund is an international child sponsorship group based in Richmond, Virginia, United States . It provides assistance to deprives, excluded and vulnerable children in 30 developing countries, as well as in the United States.

The child abuse prevention advocate said that it takes an entire country to successfully to raise a child. According to him, an agency, the government neither a family can do it alone. One community cannot do it on its own.

The kids you see here before us are those we are able to have with us by engaging them in activities throughout the summer holidays, that’s important. But this is just one aspect of it,” he is convinced.

Joseph condemned child abuse and labeled it as a contributor to poverty. He noted that an abused child is damaged for life and is psychologically, physically, emotionally and socially affected. Child abuse also contributes to poverty, yet is is not an issue that we are tracking seriously in Dominica and in the Eastern Caribbean, he believes.

“We had a report earlier this year released and reported by UNICEF which was held in Dominica … which highlighted the extent and the increase in child abuse in Dominica …

“Poverty presents itself in many, many different ways, and we heard of the just released poverty assessment of Dominica. It made reference that the three faces of poverty that ChildFund is very concerned about is what is referred to as the DEV –  Deprivation, Exclusion, and Vulnerability… It indicates to us what is happening or what is not happening within the community,” he explained.

Joseph said that scores of children are deprived from various services as they are unable to represent themselves. Their parents sometimes, are also unable to articulate their needs and usually the services are not there for them.

“ Some of it is visible, some of it is not visible and as agency we have to represent their voices and we have to represent their need. Many children and families are vulnerable. Many children are vulnerable in their homes and no one knows, through child abuse,” he stated.

ChildFund, formerly known as Christian Children’s Fund is an international child sponsorship group based in Richmond, Virginia, United States. It provides assistance to deprived, excluded and vulnerable children in 30 developing countries, as well as in the United States.

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