Drug culture hitting children hard

TURBULENT economic factors coupled with a growing drug culture have resulted in an increasing number of children being forced to seek shelter at various homes for battered and abused children. Social Services Delivery Minister Christine Kangaloo made this disclosure at Friday’s sod-turning for construction of the Hindu organisation SWAHA Children’s Home at Mohess Road in Penal.

Delivering the feature address, Kangaloo observed that “forward-thinking  and caring children’s institutions” were desperately needed as “economic crises of one sort or another” severely handicapped society’s methods of coping with stress and conflict. “The negative effects of migration, the prevalence of drug use and the cycle of drug use have all resulted, in varying degrees, in an environment that is hostile to both parents and children,” she said.

Kangaloo added: “In recent times, these factors have resulted in a rapid and alarming escalation of the number of children living under difficult circumstances in Trinidad and Tobago.” She observed that to curb instances of abuse at children’s homes,  Government had introduced a number of regulatory measures under the Children’s Authority Act, including responsibility for the licensing and monitoring of institutions as well as the introduction of a quality control system for the homes.

SWAHA’s social services committee head Bhanmatie Persad also addressed the ceremonial sod-turning event, saying the overall cost of the home was $3 million. She said that the NGO was “still below” the projected target, but expressed optimism that with contributions from Government, as well as corporate citizens and private citizens, the organisation would be able to build the institution that would contribute to the physical and social well-being of the nation’s abused and battered children.