[00:00:01] Speaker A: The best insight, instant feedback, accountability. The all new talk radio Freedom 106.5.
[00:00:07] Speaker B: And we're stepping into our interview for this hour. We're speaking with Alia Ramdas, psychologist, and also Arianne Farrell, team lead at the registry unit of the children's authority, as we talk about citizens reporting incidents of child abuse. And that will be heavy on the minds of Trinbonians as we see many examples of children either being in and around elements of crime or instances of abuse meted out to them. So I'd like to welcome you ladies to the program. Good morning to you.
[00:00:45] Speaker A: Good morning. Thank you for having us.
[00:00:47] Speaker B: Good morning.
[00:00:48] Speaker C: Thank you for having us.
[00:00:49] Speaker B: So we are interested right now in the role of the children's authority pertaining to the incidents that we've been hearing in the papers. The latest one with a young girl with a video surfacing with a child seen with a gun. And the four year old that was within the videos as well, of a relative beating this child and the mother was taken away from the child. And then there's another one girl, eight, hospitalized after being shot in the head by teen sister.
How do we as citizens go about reporting incidents of child abuse and what should we be looking out for?
[00:01:32] Speaker A: Okay, good morning. Thank you so much for that question. So we do receive reports of child abuse and neglect. We do have a 24/7 hotline that is free of charge. The numbers for the hotline are 996 or 800 2014.
We also do have reporting mechanisms online. So if you go onto our children's authority website, there is a form that you can fill out. We also receive emails or you can walk into any one of our locations. So that's in terms of how we go about reporting the abuse. But what are we even reporting? So what we do is we receive reports of physical abuse, neglect, sexual abuse, basically any instances where a child is being maltreated, it's cause for concern for the children's authority. And we welcome reports from the public where they feel that they are witness to situations where children are being mistreated.
[00:02:29] Speaker B: Now the question is, is the children's authority really equipped at this time to investigate every single report that you just mentioned you are receiving?
How do we lighten the load? How do we get through?
And what are some of the mechanisms that are already in place to deal with situations like these?
[00:02:54] Speaker A: Right. So, I mean, that is a heavy question in terms of if we are able to really deal with every instance of abuse because abuse is ongoing in our society. And what will really help lighten the load is if we prevent it. So this is what we're here to talk about this morning, because April is child abuse Prevention month, and we really want to reach the masses to help persons gain an understanding of what we can do to even prevent abuse from occurring in the first instance. And that requires us to take stock of our communities and the support systems that we're lending to our family members.
There are mechanisms within the children's authority that we help to once the matter is brought to our attention, where we would provide intervention. But we work alongside a number of other agencies, such as in national family services. We work very closely with the Child Protection Unit of the TTPs. And so it really is a collaborative effort where everyone in the nation has to get on board with the idea that child protection is everyone's business and.
[00:04:02] Speaker B: How, in terms of psychology. Now, I would like to bring in Miss Ramdas at this point. What are the services that are being offered to communities, as Miss Fereldis mentioned, support systems. What is offered to communities to be able to first of all, recognize what abuse is and the steps that should be taken to give that child or children support?
[00:04:29] Speaker C: Okay, so specifically in this month, April. April is Child Abuse Prevention Month. That was just noted.
The children's authority and the agencies within the Child Protection framework in Trinidad and Tobago will be focused on a lot of sensitization, a lot of information sharing through media interviews, as well as through in person workshops and sessions across tonight. And the point of doing all of this is to give the information, is to explain what child abuse is.
It is to give us or give persons an idea of what are the signs of child abuse and equip them with the information in terms of how to report, how to safeguard our children and what are the resources really available to them at this, you know, juncture. So we are focused by and large on public education in this month in a really big way, but also throughout the year where we do engage in these types of sessions as well.
So with regard to what the community can look out for, they can look out for any one of these sessions. They can tune into these programs, they can go to our Facebook pages where we have quite a lot of resources, quite a lot of information presented there for them to take in on their own time and, you know, just increase their awareness. It's really important that as a nation, we start moving towards change, changing our mindset, changing our beliefs and our attitudes. Children are concerned, where discipline is concerned, where protecting our children is concerned. We have to now get to that place where we value them enough to see that they are owed this level of protection.
And as we say, the children's authority. Child protection is everyone's business and coming.
[00:06:21] Speaker B: Stemming from the stories that recently came out of the papers between yesterday and today, how the children who are in these videos, they talk about child sex videos, nude images being sold on telegram groups. How do citizens report this?
And also, I want to say, I don't want to say protect themselves, but do it in such a way that they themselves are not victimized for making that report.
[00:06:54] Speaker C: In terms of being aware that something is happening concerning a child, we want to make sure the public knows that they can contact the children's authority and make a completely anonymous report, whether they do it online. As Arianne said before, we do have an online form that is very user friendly, very easy to access. Whether they call the hotline and they give that information, they can indicate their desire to remain anonymous. We are aware that oftentimes it's family members, neighbors, persons close to the alleged perpetrators that may be making these phone calls and, you know, to infer for their safety or, you know, to avoid further familiar conflict. They prefer that level of anonymity. So you are able to do that. And we encourage all persons, once you receive information that suggests the child is being harmed, that suggests that a family member may need help managing a situation with a child, then please do reach out and let us know. All reports that come to the children's authority are investigated, their subsequent action is taken. And I want to make that clear. Oftentimes, you know, persons say, well, what if I report and it's not true or it's not real or, you know, when you make reports, we encourage persons to give as much information as possible. And when our investigators go out into the field to investigate the matter, they're able to gather the information that will help us determine if this is a legitimate report, what is the level of risk associated, and it's going to then guide how we approach this case, what actions we take, what interventions do follow.
[00:08:40] Speaker B: And going back to Miss Pharrell, the children's authority, what role do you play, or what part do you all play in removing such apps as what I mentioned before, Telegram and these other groups, what would be the process for that?
[00:08:54] Speaker C: Right.
[00:08:55] Speaker A: So I just wanted to add on to Ahalia's what she just would have mentioned, and this would hopefully add some clarity to what you just asked, is that it is an offense to share child pornography. Okay. So we want to discourage the public from sharing any nudes of what is believed to be minors. What we would prefer is if those information are brought directly to the attention of the children's authority and the ttps. The TTPs has within their locus of control the ability to determine. Sometimes these things do not originate in Trinidad, and so the TTPs is able to zero in on whether it is within this jurisdiction. The children's authority works hand in hand with the ttPs, whereas they conduct the criminal investigations and we conduct the social investigations. So what we would do in those instances is we provide support to the family, we provide intervention to the minor that may be involved, and the TTPS takes care of the aspects of the criminal, sharing of minors, images of minors.
[00:10:07] Speaker B: And well, as it pertains to children.
Can we move towards a better understanding from the school's perspective as well, because you may not get the reports from at home. What are some of the ways that we can.
Well, not so much target, but understand the school setting in terms of reporting child abuse and that prevention.
[00:10:33] Speaker C: Right.
[00:10:33] Speaker A: So the school system is another system that we rely heavily on. So within the schools, there is the student support services, where there are social workers, guidance officers attached to schools. Principals also have a reporting relationship with us. So what? We would also encourage and remind persons within school environment that there is something called monetary reporting, whereby any person who is in a position of trust, such as a teacher, principal, social worker, is required by law to. To make a report to us once they become aware that a child is indeed in some kind of danger or exposed to some kind of sexual abuse.
[00:11:15] Speaker C: Just to add to what Ariane said.
[00:11:17] Speaker B: Yes, I was about to bring you in, Miss Ramdas, with a question, but please go ahead.
[00:11:21] Speaker C: Sure. Just to add, she did mention that principals have a special reporting relationship. And I want to put this out there. The terminology is out there so that we're aware that of principals and teachers, guidance officers, social workers in school, medical professionals, psychologists, coaches, all of these persons fall under category we call persons in position of trust, which means that it is we rely upon them more heavily to report instances of child abuse and failure to do so or themselves. Engaging in child abuse carries a much higher fine or penalty than the average citizen. And so it is very important that we are aware of this. Even teachers, principals sometimes, maybe, well, not principals so much, but teachers may be cautious about, you know, stirring the pot in their mind, creating more of a challenge. But it is important that they know. Oftentimes we find, and the statistics do support it, that perpetrators are presence within the homes of children. And so to catch these instances of abuse, it's likely happening in school. It's likely happening at church, mosque, temple, where others are able to observe children, observe their behaviors, observe maybe the physical signs of abuse upon a child or something that may be concerning, and they're able to then report to ensure that the children are indeed given the protection or the help that they do need. So I want to impress how important it is for persons within that extended social.
[00:12:54] Speaker B: So let's take a short break right now, and when we come back, we will talk more about the signs because as being aware of what services are provided, I think we should also be aware of the signs. Stay tuned. The morning rumble will be right back on Freedom 106.5 fm. Welcome back, TNT 836 in the nation's capital. And on air Inside MOrning Rumble, we have Miss Ahelia Ramdas, psychologist, and also Miss Ariane Farrell, team lead inside the registry unit of the children's authority. As we talk about child Abuse Prevention Month and the ways that we can recognize what the signs of abuse are, what are some of the resources that are available, which we discussed already, but we can quickly recap and how do we get in touch with those in authority or as mentioned earlier, persons of trust? So let's first talk about the early signs of abuse for those who are probably within the social network, outside of the home so that they can recognize if children are indeed being abused.
Miss Ramdas, you can take that.
[00:14:02] Speaker C: Yes. So in terms of the various forms of abuse, we do have physical abuse. We have emotional or psychological abuse as well as sexual abuse. So in the instance of physical abuse, we're looking for the obvious signs, and this is probably the most readily or the easily recognizable type of abuse because typically we're going to see marks on our children, we're going to see bruises, we're going to see cuts. We're going to have children coming in with injuries that they can't quite explain or the explanation that they're giving doesn't quite match up to what we're seeing or observing. We're going to see possibly frequent injury injuries, frequent music or bruising. Sorry.
We can also notice in terms of physical abuse that the child may be away from school, with frequency usually occurring around the time that an injury may have occurred. And we may also see unexplained or, you know, bouts of aggression that may not be typical to their, to their usual behavior and personality.
We may also see children that flinch when you approach them. We get too close or you raise your voice or you raise your hand in a particular way. They may react to any sort of movement around them that might seem threatening to them in that moment. So all of those things are things that are possible with regards the verbal or psychological abuse. Again, depending on your tone of voice and the words that you use, you may find reactions from the children. You may find that children would be withdrawn. They may have crying spells, they may be easily provoked in that way, and it's unexplained. Again, it is not typical or usual for them and the way that they would behave in terms of sexual abuse. And I'm going quickly across the board, and then I'll give some very general ones we have to pay attention to for younger ones, or even our older ones, you know, blood and suspicious stains in their undergarments. We want to take a look at if they are perhaps avoiding certain spaces, certain people, if they're dressing to cover their bodies, we may be aware of strange or increased body odor. On the flip side of covering your body. You may also see the older children, if the abuse is prolonged, may even start dressing a bit more provocatively. So what I tell parents, caregivers, persons is that we need to be so aware for children. We need to know our children, build proper foundations with our children so that when things are off, we're able to easily identify it. If we don't know who our children are, if we don't know what their typical or their baseline functioning is, their behavior, is their personalities, then how are we going to tell when something is a bit strange or off with them? We may notice across the board things like a decrease in school performance or disinterest in activities that they typically enjoyed and loved. We may notice that they become clingy.
On the flip side of being withdrawn, we may notice a mob's conscience, you know, so older children, they may tend to run away from the situation at home. We may notice also kids that like to stay at school or stay at the community center or stay at the neighbor's house or the family relatives house because they. They're so afraid to return home to that place that the abuse might be meted out to them. So all of these are signs that potentially tell us that something is happening with our children. The disclaimer to that is that some of these things may be typical in the normal development of a child, which brings us back to understanding the importance of knowing our children and knowing them well enough to know when something is different, something is off and might be telling us something is going on with your child, we need to pay attention to it.
[00:17:57] Speaker B: Now, if it is that you do recognize these signs what are some of the tips you would give to a layman or someone who is willing to help, but I guess not qualified in that area to engage a child to open up so that a report can be made and the children's authority or the relative authority can step into that situation.
[00:18:20] Speaker C: So we want to be mindful again of building genuine relationships with our children, ensuring that we have open lines of communication with them, so that when something does happen, they feel safe enough to come to us as parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, whoever it may be. We have to prioritize, making sure that they know this is a safe space. There are no consequences to you coming and telling me that something has happened, something is wrong with you. I want to encourage persons to believe children when they see something has happened. As mentioned before, all reports are investigated and substantiated. So you know, there's no instance where you should doubt a child and risk that that child is in harm's way or is being hurt. And because you are doubtful that you know, you're allowing that to continue.
I want to tell parents that it's important to teach children what abuse is. So we don't want to sugarcoat and we don't want to hide what abuse is. We want to teach them in an age appropriate manner from the very young ones. Go straight up to our adolescents what child abuse is, what sexual molestation is, what neglect is, so that they're able to see when someone is maltreating them, so they're able to identify it. And then we want to explicitly teach them what they do. What do you do? Do you move away? Do you go immediately to a trusted adult? Do you pick up a phone and call 999? Do you?
How do we teach them how to identify places of safety? So we need to get to that point where we don't take it for granted that children might know, we don't take it for granted that they may understand how to interpret things in an environment. We teach them explicitly what is abuse. What do you look out for someone who might be dangerous to me? And it's important that we teach them that this danger can come from anywhere. And it's not to make them fearful or distrustful of persons, because, as I said before, the statistics show us that perpetrators are oftentimes parents, relatives, persons living within the home. It's not the stranger that's driving by in the car, or it could be, but it's not likely that person. And we want them to know that, hey, look out for all of these things I always mention, and I think it's important in our culture that we have a way of forcing children to hug and kiss and interact with persons in families, even if they're not blood relations. This is uncle so and so. He know you since you was born and all of these things.
We need to teach children that it's important to respect themselves, their personal space, their bodies, and we need to teach the presence in our lives. If my child is not comfortable with this, or, you know, my child is not comfortable with this. So, you know, I prefer give them a high five or, you know, they, when they respectfully say, hello, auntie or uncle, that's, that's them being respectful. It's no, there's no need to push them into something that might make them uncomfortable, that might blur some boundaries that they have. So it's important that we teach, and we are aware that information and getting information out there, normalizing the conversations like this, it shouldn't be pulled out on special occasions. It shouldn't be pulled out only when something has happened. It should be normal conversations we have with our children throughout the year as they grow, changing the language and the amount of detail and the way that we speak to them as they grow, so that they're aware that dangers come in different shapes and forms, from young children to older children. And, you know, we're constantly seeing that open space where they feel safe.
[00:21:52] Speaker B: I think it also applies.
[00:21:55] Speaker A: Sorry, just to add to what Ahelia just mentioned in terms of the layperson being able to recognize, we don't want people to feel that they have to do investigations themselves before they report. We don't want people to feel that they have to expose themselves. You can absolutely choose to be anonymous, or you can also choose to give us your information so that we could contact you for further details or directions and so on. But we keep that information private and confidential. It's not shared. But what I want to drive across is that we're not asking the public to themselves to investigate where you have some reason to believe that a child has been maltreated, or Hailey just said, believe the child first, believe them first, and make the report. You can call us at 996 800 2014. You can even send us an
[email protected]. Or like I mentioned before, you can go on the website.
[00:22:49] Speaker B: Well, I was not going to step into giving the information so that if either they want to do it anonymously or actually attach their names, they would be those numbers available.
I guess we can repeat that again, because I want to ask you, Miss Farrell, to once we've recognized it. We've had the discussion what would be the first step to the process of removing the children from situations such as the examples we've been seeing within the last couple of weeks? What will be the process to start there?
[00:23:26] Speaker A: So actually removing children is actually a very last resort. We prefer not to disrupt a child in an environment where they, we believe that children do best in their family environment, unless, of course, significant harm is coming to them in this environment. So what we do when we do receive reports, as a Hayley would have naturally investigate, we substantiate whether or not the claim is being made is actually a cause for concern, but it's really a last resort to remove the child. So what we do before we get to that instance is see how we could support family members. How can we help parents to better cope? How can we help them with their parenting styles? And this is where we rely a lot on referral agencies that we partner with so that we can prevent children being removed from their familial homes. But of course, there are those instances where it really is unsafe for children to remain in those homes. It all starts with the reports. And so once the report is made and we have sufficient information to find the child, it's really important for us to have specific information about where the child can be found.
It's really difficult for us to action with a case without that information. But once we have information where the child can be found, then we begin our investigative process. And once that process occurs, it's a social investigation that I mentioned before happens in tandem with a police investigation. And once those investigations occur, we can then determine who might be the best family member. It might not be within this family, whom maybe another relative elsewhere might be capable and willing and suitable to care for the child. And if not, if those other things spin, then we turn to other resources, such as community residences and foster care.
[00:25:18] Speaker C: Foster care.
[00:25:19] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:25:20] Speaker C: As you touched on foster care, Ariane, permit me to say also that we do have a new system called kinship foster care that does allow family members to enter into that foster care system to provide care for relatives themselves. So in addition to foster care, where approved persons within the community are able to take children into their home, we have the option also for relatives under the kinship foster care program to also do the same. And just to reiterate, when in the instance that children are removed, which is not what we like at all, not what we want at all for children, we look for relatives first of that child to see if they can provide care. So the child remains in a family setting, remains with relatives, and then move along the line to possibly foster care so they still have a family setting. If foster care is not possible, then to see our children's residents where, you know, they can be safe for the time, for the time building capacity while we work on finding a relative, I.
[00:26:25] Speaker B: Would think that would also foster trust between you, the caseworker, and the environment that then, so that they can express themselves and get to the root of the problem. Now I wanted to ask you, what would be the safe spaces if that was not provided or found at that point in time? Let's say a family listening right now and understand the needs for, let's say, counseling or being able to at least speak to one officer. Are there places that they can go to? As of right now, we're talking about children.
[00:26:57] Speaker C: If there are spaces for children to.
[00:26:58] Speaker B: Reach out to, yes, children, and also family members who are willing to go with the child to that space so they can begin the process of dealing with the situation at home.
[00:27:09] Speaker C: Okay. So in terms of what is available right now, we do have organizations or agencies such as national family services through the Ministry of Social Development, as well as organizations like Childline where you can call in and you can speak to a counselor on the phone. We do encourage persons to also utilize the services of the guidance officers and social workers that are placed at the schools through student support services, which is the Ministry of Education. We have private practitioners in Trinidad and Tobago through TTAP. You can go online and look at the available clinicians or counselors that are available to speak with children and, you know, reach out. I know that it is. When we talk about child protection, when we talk about child abuse, when we talk about the stresses that families go through, sometimes it comes across as easier said than done, you know, and it's hard sometimes for families who are overwhelmed, frustrated to reach out and seek help. But reaching out and seeking help is the only way that we can step in. We can take a look at what's happening with you, assess what's happening with you, and then put you on to the appropriate services and spaces to receive that help. Even if, and Arian could correct me if I'm wrong, even if you're frustrated, you don't know who else to call, and you call the registry hotline, they're going to find the agency, the organization that can help you, and they're going to you onto that agency, they're going to give you that information. So if all else fails and you really don't know where to turn, you can still call the registry and say, hey, this is happening. I'm at my limit. I don't know what else to do. Can you offer some support? Can you offer some guidance? You know, can you give me some help? And I want to say also that when we investigate in these things, I want to also point out that children that come to us, so children who have been deemed children in care of need and protection, so we've investigated, we've substantiated, we know that there is a real care and protection concern that these children oftentimes assessed through our assessment unit to get a sense of what has the impact of child abuse been on them, what has the impact of the struggles, the conflict, the situation been on the family unit at large. And that helps us.
It puts us in a place where we can make the appropriate recommendations, not only to rehabilitate that child and to provide the appropriate kind of care for that child, but also to assist the family, like Arian mentioned before, in building their capacity and linking them with the right agencies and putting them in the right spaces to improve their situation, because the long term goal is always family reintegration where possible and where the child can remain safe.
[00:29:54] Speaker B: Well, ladies, I'd like to thank you so much for coming into well on Freedom 106.5 FM on morning rumble to talk about these issues. It is something that is unfortunately popping up with a kind of a prevalence where this information is desperately needed. So I'd like to thank you, Miss Ramdas and miss Pharrell, for joining us here and we will chat again soon.
[00:30:16] Speaker A: Thank you so much for having us. The best insight, instant feedback, accountability. The all new talk radio Freedom 106.5.
