Police urged to report cases of arrested parents to child care agencies
CHILDREN’S advocate Mary Clarke has urged police officers to notify her office or that of the Child Development Agency when persons taken into their custody are found to be the primary or sole caregivers of young children.
It was, she said, one of the ways in which the best interests of the island’s children would be served and their care and protection assured under the law.
“It is something that we are trying to address with the police. When you arrest someone and you know that person has young children (alert the relevant authorities),” Clarke told reporters at the Courtleigh Hotel in Kingston on Thursday.
“We have had discussions with them. What we need is an understanding, a policy decision,” added Clarke.
The recent arrest of pregnant teenager Sasha Payne, a resident of Hannah Town in Kingston, was cited as a case in which the police should have advised the child care agencies. Payne was arrested on suspicion of murder and charged with illegal possession of firearm.
The Office of the Children’s Advocate has since intervened in the interest of the teen mom’s two children. Already, through collaboration with the Child Development Agency (CDA), investigations have got underway and Clarke reported that at least one of the children was being properly cared for.
Clarke also told reporters that her office was working with the police to ensure that children in lock-ups were kept separate from adults in such facilities, in accordance with the 2004 Child Care and Protection Act.
In the meantime, Sophia Frazer-Binns, legal policy officer with the Office of the Children’s Advocate, said a meeting has already been held with the police on the issue of children in lock-ups. “We know that this thing cannot be done single-handedly. We have to work with all the relevant stakeholders and partners,” said Frazer-Binns.
“The investigations are ongoing but where our findings have showed (that is in fact occurring) we have moved quickly by speaking with the officer in charge or by making recommendations to the court for the children to be moved to places of safety,” Frazer-Binns told reporters.
