Judge wants assistance for the nation's children

WESTERN BUREAU:

Sandria Wong Small, the senior parish judge for St James, says she is disturbed that a large number of youngsters are appearing before the court for serious crimes.

"From where I sit, this is a very disturbing trend," said Wong Small, who pointed out that a high percentage of persons being brought before the Western Regional Gun Court in the parish ranges from as low as age 13 up to age 25.

"Twenty-five years is old when you check the numbers," said Wong Small, who added that even young women are appearing before the courts very frequently nowadays. "More attention needs to be paid to proper parenting and community assistance towards the proper upbringing of the children in the parish."

Wong Small, who was addressing the 41st installation ceremony for officers and directors of the Kiwanis Club of Anchovy/Cambridge in Montego Bay on Monday, said she noticed that the police hierarchy in St James recently raised concern about the matter.

Wong Small said the lack of proper parenting, emotional and financial support are some of the factors causing the youth to become wayward, and in so doing, creating havoc in the community. She challenged the Kiwanis movement to step up their support for programmes for children, in keeping with their mission statement, which says, "improving the world one child, one community at a time".

"They (the children) need emotional and financial support. A lot of the sexual abuse cases stem from the lack of emotional and financial support, as some children are raising themselves and need guidance," the senior judge said.

She said enquiries done in a lot of the cases involving child offenders have revealed that they are the children of teenage mothers, who lack the requisite parenting skills.

"This leads to their children having children while they are still children," said Wong Small. "In most of the cases, they have left school unqualified and illiterate."

The judge said community members are not doing enough to curtail the issue of domestic abuse. With respect to child abuse, she appealed for communities to utilise the provisions of the Child Care and Protection Act, adding that it is the legal and moral responsibility of all to protect the children.