Parents

Why parents must be held more accountable and responsible. I was talking to the unmarried father of an 8 year old boy recently. He has a problem with the mother of his child. Every time he brings the child back to the mother after he has spent the weekend with him, the mother locks the child out of the house. She refuses to let him back in the house until he cries and begs to her satisfaction. She screams abuse at the child constantly. He has tried to get the Department of Social Development to help him, but there is nothing they can do under our present legal system. There is nothing the police or the court can do. There is no legal remedy. The mother has all the ‘rights’ and the father only has ‘obligations’. His concern is that the lack of love and affection is going to turn his child into a criminal one of these days. He is so right.

The present serious juvenile crime situation in Anguilla is a social phenomenon, not entirely susceptible to legal solutions. Only the parents can solve the nub or nut of the problem. The sad thing is that so many of our parents are themselves the product of broken and abusive homes. All they can do is to repeat the cycle of domestic abuse and neglect. It is human nature to do so. It is also an aspect of culture and education. When so many mothers and fathers have been educated to bring up anti-social children, why are we surprised when they so often succeed?

That is why some social reformers advocate holding parents responsible. We need to put more pressure on parents to perform their parenting role. It should be backed up with educational programmes on how to be a good father and good mother. It always amazes me how many parents do not begin to understand how destructive their example and behaviour is. Then, when we point the finger at them, they respond by saying it is unfair. No, it is not unfair.

If a mother or father persistently permits their child to be a truant from school, that ought to be a crime on the part of the parent.

If a mother or father persistently permits their child to mix with gangsters, that ought to be a crime on the part of the parent.

If a mother or father persistently permits their child to bear arms and offensive weapons in the home, that ought to be a crime on the part of the parent.

The object is not to punish the parent. The object is to convince the parent that he or she needs to do more to monitor and supervise the behaviour and acquaintances of their child.

The result will not be a flooding of our jail with delinquent parents. The Magistrate will make an example of one or two, and suddenly attitudes will change.

It is not the fine or the jail that is the wake up call. It is being brought before the court and named and shamed that is the effective part of prosecuting a social crime. We have to face reality as a society and take active steps to break the cycle of child abuse and negligent parenting.

Of course, if we were rich like the Americans or the British, we could try doing like them and throwing lots of money at the problem. I don't see that working for them, and we certainly can’t make that a solution here.

Just my thoughts, while I thank God every day that I am not a parent myself.

Child Support

Child Support Reforms Coming Soon to Anguilla? I have not had much time for the blog the past few days. On Thursday, I participated in a workshop on child support. It was the Staff Development Day for the officers of the Department of Social Development. That is the department of government in The Valley that houses my legal aid clinic. Some of the clinic’s clients are referred by these officers. It was, therefore, an honour and a pleasure to have been asked to research the topic of the proposed reforms for child support and to make a presentation on the reforms to the workshop.

The OECS family law reform project is now several years old. The result has been the production of several draft Bills that have been circulated to all the nine island states and territories of the OECS for consideration. The draft Bills in question are:

1. The Child Justice Bill;
2. Children (Care and Adoption) Bill;
3. The Domestic Violence Bill;
4. The Family Law (Guardianship, Custody and Access to Children) Bill;
5. The Maintenance of Children Bill;
6. The Status of Children Bill.

I am not sure to what extent this exercise has resulted in any practical legal reform in any of our states and territories. Certainly, none of the draft model laws have been debated in this island, far less enacted. All of the draft Bills contain excellent provisions that we in Anguilla, particularly the mothers of children, could well benefit from.

As I told the officers to whom I was speaking, none of these reforms will come to the front of people’s attention unless someone lobbies and agitates for them. There is no department of government more involved with these issues than they are. Unless the staff of the Department take steps to lobby with the Mothers’ Union, the Churches, the community groups, the politicians, and the public, it is not likely that these draft Bills will be looked at by anyone. It will be a hard task to get any reforms done.

If you would like to have an idea what I spoke about, you can read my notes for the speech by clicking here.