THE EDITOR, Sir:
REGARDING THE welfare of our children, I could not help but listen with bemusement as the relevant sectors of society responded with shock and horror to the report of the Sadie-Keating Committee that was recently released.
Surely the State of which these children are wards did not need this report to reveal the inefficiencies of the 'system'. At present, the government agencies have not even tried to insult the public by scrambling to deflect the blame for what amounts at the very least to tortious liability.
The sad thing is that this knowledge has always hung on the periphery of our awareness. Meanwhile there is nobody responsible for what has transpired and the lives of the children hang in the balance scarred by years of wilful neglect.
A flurry of activity is taking place with the establishment of a new agency and talks of a new legislative framework. Some of the suggestions are so elementary that I was actually shocked because I had always assumed that a number of them were in place. For example, I had always assumed that children who came to be in the 'care' of the State because of violent offences that they had committed would be kept separately from those who were surrendered to the State by their parents, or that there was selection criteria for employees.
Who did the hiring and firing? What will make this agency different? The lack of a legislative framework was only a fragment of the problem. Rape and carnal abuse were unlawful when the acts were perpetrated yet there was no adequate protection against same.
In developing this agency, the government has managed to shroud the real implications of this report and any political fallout which would have inevitably resulted.
I am, etc.,
GILLIAN BURGESS
14-16 Duke Street
Kingston
liangil_200@yahoo.com
