Tackling Child Neglect in St Kitts and Nevis
ZIZ News — The Probation of Child Protection Services deals with different types of cases involving children every day.
But the most frequently reported issue however, is the problem of neglect.
Director of Probation and Child Protection Services, Debra Matthew says neglect comes in many forms.
“A child may be reported to our office because the child is not going to school; there is neglect where persons leave their children home at nights unattended; also neglect in the sense of not feeding them properly,” she said.
Matthew says her office investigates every report of neglect and often finds that in many cases there is an underlying cause of neglect.
She added, “The numbers are a bit high in the neglect sense but as we look at it in different section, we find that some of those things come out of neglect reports. We’ve had thirty-nine (39) males reported for neglect last year and forty-six (46) females.”
According to Matthew, in order to help the children of the federation’s communities, Child Protection Services and the police must all work together.