While physical and sexual abuse of children remains a scourge in society, Director of Childcare and Protection Agency, Ann Greene has identified neglect as the most prevalent issue currently affecting children.Neglect refers to the failure or refusal, without reasonable cause, of a person having care of a child, to provide the child with basic needs such as food, clothing, shelter, adequate supervision or medical treatment.If neglect is reported to CPA, the agency along with partnering services investigates the situation to bring justice to the child in need.Director of CPA, Ann GreeneCPA has over its five years of existence worked intimately with the Guyana Police Force, Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation, and schools to effectively address the cases of child abuse. The Police Force is concerned with the investigation and charges for the accused while the GPHC is responsible for the medical needs of the victims to further help them in their cases.In almost all of the districts that the CPA serves, Child Care officials report that neglect ranks highest on their list of reported cases. Additionally, the Director, in an interview with the publication, expressed concern over the parenting capacity and parenting skills of caregivers.The Director said, “Parenting is in trouble. We have irresponsible parents and children are downright left on their own. Parents are not providing required care to their offspring.”Considering the cases that her agency receives,Cheap NBA Jerseys China, Greene said that it is often a case of lack of supervision and added that people going off and leaving their children alone is awfully common.“Everyone has to work,” the CPA Head said “but parents have to put systems in place for their children. There are definitely irresponsible parents out there.”Under the laws of Guyana, parents could be prosecuted for neglecting their children and Greene has made it clear that the CPA has been cracking down on willful neglect.To get rid of this scourge, she said that the education and training of parents are necessary to build their capacity. Greene said too that other organisations, such as the church, have a part to play.Greene expressed too that there is a need for fathers to play a greater role in the family.Just last week, workers from the agency were called upon to intervene in a situation at Guyhoc Park, Tucville,Nike NFL Jerseys China, to ensure that four children, who were neglected, receive adequate care.The children are aged 12, eight,Wholesale Jerseys, three and one year old.These children were left unattended in a rat infested shack by their mother.According to reports, the four children were left alone in a rat-infested house with no food, to fend for themselves. They had reportedly been left for more than a week by their mother, who according to neighbours, said she was going into the interior “to look for it” and would be returning for the Mashramani holiday in February.When this newspaper visited the children’s dwelling, the one-year-old girl was seen running around in a urine-soaked one-piece outfit while her older siblings, who were not properly dressed, were seen sitting quietly in a corner,Cheap NFL Jerseys China, watching her.Up to 11:00 hrs last Tuesday, the children, including the baby,Cheap NFL Jerseys China, had not eaten anything that morning.Neighbours had said that the 12-year-old girl was left in charge of her siblings.She was responsible for preparing breakfast, lunch and dinner, if anything was available to cook. She was also tasked with washing clothes and doing other chores. Due to her busy schedule and no money, the eldest child could not attend school nor could she send her two other school-aged siblings to any learning institution.Newspaper reports indicate that rats were seen running everywhere and the house had no electricity. At nights, the children slept alone in the dark on an old mattress with no covering and no mosquito net.For breakfast, they reportedly ate food that was given to them by neighbours the previous day – this same food was fed to the baby, who according to neighbours should still be using porridge.Additionally, last October, a mother who left her five sons without adult supervision for a period of three weeks, at her Perseverance, Essequibo Coast home was sentenced to two weeks imprisonment.Reports in the media indicate that the boys, whose ages ranged between 14 to six years old, were reportedly forced to take care of themselves, a practice they had grown accustomed to,China Jerseys Cheap, since their mother would on occasions leave them unattended.Although the mother would receive monetary assistance from her relatives overseas, and from her neighbours, she had gotten into the habit of leaving her young sons unattended and begging.Because of her negligent behaviour, members of the CPA removed the boys from their Perseverance home and they are currently in the organisation’s care.But the case of the Perseverance boys and the Guyhoc quartet are just representations of the plight of many children out there. Though the situations may not be the same, the CPA receives reports on a daily basis of children being neglected.
