We do not love our children

IN THE past few weeks there has been a spate of tragic incidents involving children. While it is quite normal for people to react with shock and dismay when we hear about the violent death of a child, a look at our treatment of children and of children's issues is chastening.

The recent set of deaths of children on the roads has led to statements by the education minister about a need to provide safer transportation for children. Let us see where this goes. For years our children have suffered abuse by the public transport system. When, some years ago, Government ruled that students should be charged less on buses, this led to the infamous 'no schoolers' system, where students would only be allowed on buses after all the full-fare paying adults had boarded. The few 'schoolers buses' would pack them in like sardines and barrel along the roads in order to make more trips before school started.

But the situation on the buses is just one issue. Our children have constantly been abused, ignored and mistreated. How much general advocacy is there for the street children we chase away from our windshields? How many of us think about what their future holds for them? How do we respond to the fact that many of these children actually live on the streets, or at least spend most of their time there? What has happened to public and private support for places like Boys' Town?

outcry

We get self-righteously irate when we hear of a mother leaving her toddlers at home to fend for themselves while she goes to the shop. When there is an accident and a child dies, we call for the arrest of the mother, not for a change to the conditions which forced her to do this. And then, when last was there an outcry at the sight of the many tiny children we see playing on the streets unsupervised, or running errands to the shop? And look at what had to happen before we were moved to establish 'Ananda Alert'!

What is most worrisome is the fact that children constantly suffer abuse by officialdom. They are still being held in lockups at police stations, even after an outcry some years ago. Police who have been stationed at schools often do not see themselves as being there to protect the students, but as agents of control. So there are instances of children being carted away from schools in police cars and taken to police stations because they were 'facety' to the police officers, or refused to allow themselves to be searched without a teacher present.

protection

The situation regarding the thousands of children in our children's homes and places of safety is scandalous. It was almost ten years ago when the CEO of the Child Development Agency stated that she had tremendous concerns about these places. Children who had been abandoned, children who had been sent there for their protection because their fathers, stepfathers or older relatives had sexually abused them, and violent teens who were to be kept under maximum security, were all bundled together. In 2006, the Kealing Report drew attention to their plight, but precious little was done and the parlous situation continued. Then there was Armadale, the public enquiry, a 'patch-up' job for the few who remained. But the general situation is still not much different.

The present concern is about suicides. I discovered how serious the situation was when seeking help for students of mine who had attempted suicide. The figures of those who have contemplated or attempted ending their own lives are staggering. About two years ago, it was officially reported that there was an increasing need for psychological help for teenagers. Yet, there is still little specific provision for them. The doctor-patient ratio is impossible, and there are no special institutions for teenagers. Those with serious psychological problems are still treated in hospital wards designed for and populated by adults.

There are persons who have been advocating for children, but their effort is frustratingly lonely. We need to search our hearts. There must be love for our children there. Somewhere.

Keith Noel is an educator. Send comments to columns@gleanerjm.com