Padarath: Government is Providing an Enabling Environment for Abusers

MP for Princes Town and Shadow for Child Affairs, Barry Padarath has lashed out at the Government after reading the front page of today’s Guardian.

The Member of Parliament is demanding that Rowley, Camille and Webster-Roy stop the blame game, stop the witch hunt and place all their efforts into the Judith Jones report.

He reminded the nation that it is not the Opposition’s intention to shut down these homes without a plan, but these homes certainly cannot continue to employ abusers months after they’ve been identified.

The MP added that it has now been nearly 6 months since the Jones report and the Government has done nothing but set up an interim task force to produce a workplan by the end of June. Padarath questioned if the children would then have to wait even longer for the Government to appoint a new task force to handle implementation.

He went on to state that this Government’s lack of urgency is essentially aiding and abetting the abuse of our nation’s children. He again added, that the Opposition is not calling for the homes to be shut down in a vacuum, but these homes cannot continue to be unlicensed, receive state funding, all the while paying adults to abuse those in their care.

Padarath called on the Government to immediately suspend all operations of those homes that have been named in the Jones report. If the TTPS is saying that they are yet to identify specific persons as the alleged abusers, and cannot therefore remove anyone, then the Government is now faced with no choice but to temporarily cease operations and these children must immediately be placed in an alternative environment under the guidance and supervision of qualified personnel. Due diligence must be done to ensure that the children who occupy the homes named in the report are not being moved from one horror house to another.

Padarath also pointed to the fact that Sharon Morris-Cummings, Acting Director of the Children’s Authority, has categorically stated the allocation of $88 million received last year was simply insufficient. He added that this was shameful, considering this administration had funds for Soaka on the Seas, Paintings and 100 million dollars for road companies that are yet to be registered.

He ended by repeating his call for, what he described previously as, the state sanctioned rape, abuse and murder of our children to stop immediately.