Bearing in mind that, as indicated in the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, “the child, by reason of his physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth – Convention on the Rights of the Child […] All those years ago the then…
Bearing in mind that, as indicated in the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, “the child, by reason of his physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth – Convention on the Rights of the Child
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All those years ago the then Attorney General Maurice King opined there were no gangs in Barbados. Sensible Barbadians at the time who had their ears to the ground were aware of lawless individuals who had organized themselves across the island. In 2015 we have bona fide gangs who threaten to destabilize Barbados. Although the obvious is known to the Barbadians and authorities alike, we dither with no obvious strategy how to retrieve our little island from the brink of chaos.
In June of this year Barbadians were alerted to the case of the now departed six year old Jahan King who died under suspicious circumstances. The child was reported to have been inflicted with broken fingers, injury to the eye, a burst mouth and many bruises about the body. After several weeks it is still painful to write about this tragedy.
The BU household extends our heartfelt sympathy to the family of Jahan King.
The story of Jahan King was highlighted on social media(note pictures are gruesome) – the pictures of his bruised little body enough to make a grown man cry. The traditional media followed when a story began to emerge. Thank God for Social media!
It is obvious based on reports this is a case the Child Care Board (CCB) bungled. Chairman of the CCB Ken Knight offered the excuse his agency lacked the resources to better respond to the child abuse problem in Barbados. It seems Barbados is a country aspiring to reach first world status but lack the know how to protect the mentally ill and our abused children to name two of our failings. Coincidentally, a few days after Jahan’s death the CCB in its collective wisdom removed thirteen children from abused home. If there is a silver lining to the story of Jahan’s death to be found, it served to kick the collective asses of the CCB to mobilize against families who were abusing children.
BU is painfully aware what has played out since June represents the tip of the iceberg. We have a huge problem of child abuse in Barbados. The admission by Chairman Knight that the CCB lacks the resources to protect children should make Barbadians suffer outrage. Instead, we prefer to ignore the problem because denial means it does not exist.
If we intend to build a society first and foremost, to borrow a political slogan, we have to give meaning to it. It is unconscionable and unforgivable to know we have helpless children who have to suffer abuse at the hands of adults in a so called civilized and educated society. Yet we observe civil servants and politicians jet setting across the globe to attend meaningless meetings when tax dollars could be better allocated to the CCB to improve the wellbeing of our children.
The BU household feels obligated to issue a plea to our leaders in the private and public sector to do more to shine a light on child abuse in Barbados. If we cannot protect our children, why bother!
What is the stage of the investigation as it relates to the demise of little Jahan King? That little nobody (used intentionally) is still somebody’s child. So often we see where in relation to an unnatural death, investigations die naturally. So sad. ..but so true!
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Donna
Why bother indeed! It is so hard to go about your daily life knowing that very little is being done to protect our little ones. What really is our purpose for existence? And why has nobody been arrested yet in this case. There cannot be too many suspects. What is so hard about it?
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Piece Uh De Rock Yeah Right
“And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD.”
When a nation moves to a point where it starts to destroy its progeny, whether openly like this, or tacitly via the many other means that are being employed daily across our island, and no one stands up to say anything or does anything to stop it, it heralds a new age and a time when the compensation for these perverse acts MUST AND WILL COME from a source that will not relent in delivering OUR REWARD!!
SUCH POWER will not renege when a clique of the haves, seeing the paedophile rampaging all through Queens College, and hearing of the pending legal action, go and pay the bail for the groupie paedophile and scurry him to the airport so he can return to England!
There has to be the dispensation of one rule for all or else this will continue and male UK Prime Ministers can have sex with 10 year old boys while the Head of MI5 covers it up and eradicates those who would expose the perversity of that PM.
It is a sickness which few realize that they are sick and even fewer seek help for it.
Like alcoholism, gambling, computer addiction, 800 sex lines, it is a sickness and if you have a lame toe you seek medical attention.
Unfortunately, we dont want anyone to know that we are attracted to a 10 year old boy or girl, do we?
Whu after all if you are Joey or Adriel and that were to get out it would ruin you and you might tek your life like the police officer did a few months ago.
It is a sickness and you need help. AND HELP, given the rarity of the existence of local expertise, DOAN COME CHEAP…
I weep for Jadan King and all of the Jadan Kings and Shamar Weekes’ who are still out there, particularly those in BIM but those across the world.
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Bush Tea
A pox on their collective asses.
Even a jackass, on realising that he has taken on a burden to great for him to bear, will stop, give up, and seek help.
How a bunch of clearly incompetent leaders can continue to embarrass themselves – AND THE WHOLE COUNTRY – by destroying everything that have been build since independence, while holding on just to qualify for pensions …must warrant a research study by competent scholars somewhere.
Shiite man!! enough is enough.
Is this government going to destroy every shiite before conceding incompetence and putting the best interest of the damn country ahead of their pensions (not their reputations, …cause their ‘reputations’ are about as valuable as cat shit…)
When we reach the stage where our little children become nothing more than collateral damage in our warped society, we know that brimstone and fire is at hand….
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Hamilton Hill
I was moved almost to tears today while listening to the plight of a caller to Brass Tacks, who allegedly has been receiving the run around from the NIS. According to this young man he has been waiting for a year to begin to receive disability benefits, can no longer pay his mortgage, and has had to do without his medication for the last two months. Then I got to thinking about the exorbitant fees paid by this DLP administration to the former member for St George South. That glum feeling was replaced by one of anger. Something’s gotta give!
This is the mentality we are dealing with and understand Dodds will not rehabilitate them. Before we begin to curse them note our dysfunctional society produced them.
Society probably discarded these boys or their parents since primary school as being “duncy” and unworthy of attention. What do you expect when our curriculum makes no place for these children but condemns them to the dump? Many of these children who cannot keep up leave school functionally illiterate. There is little remedial teaching. These children, though not academically gifted, do have talents that our school system does very little to discover, develop and value. The children feel hopeless and as Mack Fingall says this hopelessness is the worst disease affecting our society. Jeff Broomes, I believe, understands the problem and has been trying to address it at Parkinson. We all know what happened with that.
Until we value all talents or as Matthew Farley says all “intelligences” in the same way children will continue to fall by the wayside. We can either spend the money in the school system with remedial teachers, an expanded curriculum and social workers or we can spend it in policemen, prison officers, court officers, medical treatment and all the infrastructure and administrative expenses that go with these things. Also worthy of mention is the cost of losing productive members of society to gun violence.
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Donna
Hamilton,
I am told that the doctors are the hold up usually. It is difficult to get an appointment with them and when you do they often do not submit your paperwork for years. Sometimes all it takes is for a call to the doctor but some people are afraid of them.
At the moment we are praising the scholarship and exhibition winners and so we should but our system spits out some many children who have failed to achieve that social dysfunction later in life will be the result.
There are some person in this country who endeavor to get rich out of poor people suffering, how else to explain the CCB action and now maybe the case is botch and can’t go forward
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HAMILTON A HILL
Donna.. Point taken. A look at the total picture however leads me back down the road my focus has zoomed in on. We don’t need a doctor to prove pregnancy do we? Speak to the women awaiting maternity benefits. They too have been stymied time and again. Examine the long list of pensioners who today exist at the mercy of some friend or family member, if not some very patient shop keeper all because their pension checks are scheduled to be delivered by Old Saint Nick. Mr B’s up in the Kendal….his is never late. The lawyer man cuss a boy or two, but he too get his, bloated and all. All I am saying is that the plight of poor people has become more evident since we opted for a society. In the next Barbados there has been an amalgamation of economy and society. The members of this administration live there, but govern here. TIME TO WAKE UP BAJANS! The indigenous ones me talking to.
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HAMILTON A HILL
I first saw those smiling faces on Barbados Today sometime last night. To me those are not the faces of persons who understand the gravity of their situation. For me this is more about us as a society than it is about them as a misguided lot. We spay and neuter dumb animals who exhibit more care and compassion where their off spring is concern, yet do precious little to educate the baby machines we are giving a free pass to. At nineteen and there are already three or four baby mamas, work needs to be mandatory. Clean some sea weed or some shite so that the state gets recompense for its efforts. Let the same apply to the other gender. Make those poor helpless children wards of the state, and let the baby machine take care of some elderly soul….that is time better spent than …… Dem pleasure today is we pain and peril tomorrow. No child has asked to be born. If you are prepared to make them then you should be forced to shoulder some responsibility.
The problem is more deep seated. Based on the utterances of the AG Adriel Brathwaite he remains clueless what policy framework he needs to lead.
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Simple Simon
Jahan’s death had nothing to do with gangs.
If Jahan’s father was present very likely Jahan would not have died.
But Jahan’;s father had “better” things to do than to father his own son.
Jahan was very likely killed by his mother’s boyfriend. And his mother did nothing to protect her child from her boyfriend because she “loved” her boyfriend better that she loved hew own flesh and blood.
We teach women to love. honor and obey men. And when they do to their own detriment and to the detriment of thier children we act surprised.
Many, many men are indifferent to or hostile to other men’s children.
I would never let a “stepfather” five minutes unsupervised access to my children.
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Simple Simon
We have devalued child bearing and child rearing.
We say of women who are full time mothers “she does not work” and by those words we imply that what she is doing is less valuable than paid work.
How many of us have spend 24 hours taking care of a toddler.? If you have did you consider it work or not work?
How many of us have spent hours and days and weeks, and months and years bringing a teenager to reason? If you have did you consider it work or not work?
Well if child bearing and child rearing are devalued, then children are devalued too.
And on the front page of today’s Nation we have some of the devalued ones.
Plain and Simple
Simon.
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Simple Simon
In the good old days married men with children were held in high esteem.
Women who took care of their children were respected members of their communities.
Nowadays even Cabinet Ministers and Prime Ministers live apart from their children.
This is the scary new normal.
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Nonabuser
Child abuse was going on in Bim in my childhood days that was nearly 70 yrs ago which some people deem as “discipline.” It maybe to the extreme in this era but I don’t believe it has reached the level of being out of control like way back then. The parents of this younger generation find alternative ways in “disciplining” their children instead of meting out the harsh treatment like what they had to endure when they, the now parents, were young.
Adults need to stop and think before and during their evil act when they raise their hand at a child knowing that it could result in injury or possibly death.
We need desperately people in society and with authority to show more interest in all children especially those who are being and or easily led astray – they need guidance. As for neighbours if and when you see or hear something that could be detrimental and could put a child in jeopardy, please say something no matter how trivial it may seem.
I hope that Jahan’s death is a wake up call for all from top to bottom and around, and would be solved very soon.
Do you understand the central issue here is the under performing CCB? If we accept that child abuse will always be with us ford it mean we have to tolerate inefficient state agencies? Are you following?
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Simple Simon
No David the CENTRAL ISSUE is not a non-performing Child Care Board. The Central issue is non-performing parents, ESPECIALLY NON-PERFORMING FATHERS.
The Child Care Board bears some responsibility, but NOT THE CENTRAL RESPONSIBILITY. Central responsibility rests principally with the parents who enjoyed the pleasure of conceiving the child.
The Child Care Board only needs to step in after the parents have FAILED the child which they took pleasure in conceiving TOGETHER.
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Simple Simon
Sometimes in the sweetness of sex we seem to forget that child rearing is HARD, HARD WORK and that it is unlikely that anybody (or any institution) will come along who will do it as willingly, as consistently and as well as TWO loving parents.
In case you missed the plot the gist of the issue of this blog is how the CCB bungled the Jahan case and got him killed.
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Dompey
David
The issues surrounding child sexual, physical, emotional and psychological abuse, must be met with zero tolerance, in order for society to take these rather sensitive issues very seriously. So how do we heighten the public awareness regarding issues surrounding child abuse beyond the agencies that are charged with investigating and prosecuting the perpetrators of these very atrocious and egregious acts committed against the most vulnerable amongst us? Well, we must make those persons that are involve with children in any capacity, Mandated-Reporters: meaning that their are sanction by the criminal-code to report cases or instances of child abuse, or their themselves will face prosecution for failing to do so.
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Dompey
Someone above stated that he was almost brought to tears on hearing of this case involving the death of this innocent child. Well sir, the days for crying is over, and the time is now to put in place an effective protocol for preventing and prosecuting the perpetrators this unpardonable crime; committed against the innocent.
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Dompey
Simple Simon
Your answer is neither here or there because we do not living in an ideal world. And this is not such thing as an ideal or perfect parent! The only perfect parents you will find today are the ones in the celestial-sphere brother.
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Simple Simon
Dear Dompey:
Please reads my posts carefully and note that I did not say anything about perfect or ideal parents.
I talked about the HARD WORK of child rearing. All of us are capable of working hard.
I talked about LOVE. All of us are capable of love.
Jahan will be buried on Thursday this week at St Leonards Church.
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Dompey
We can only wait with the hope and anticipation that the death of this innocent child wasn’t in vain, and that it serves as the catalyst as well as the barometer which injects the much needed public awareness to the issue of child of abuse of any sort in Barbados. Now, I only hope and wish that this case implore those who are charged with overseeing our children safety and security, to reexamine the existing protocol in an effort to determine it efficacy, and to circumspectly revisit the effectiveness of the laws on the books in Barbados as their relates to the apprehension, prosecution and incarceration of the perpetrators of these inexcusable acts committed against the most vulnerable amongst us.
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Nonabuser
Simple Simon I’m with you. The responsibility of a child first lies with the parent THEN the CCB when all else fails.
@ David the CCB maybe partially to blame but shouldn’t have to take the brunt 100%. I would however agree their excuse for a lack of resources is non acceptable and an embarrassment.
You need to read with comprehension. In the case of Jahan the CCB was involved in the case two years before his death. In such a case BU is making the point the CCB is to be held responsible. Our position does not negate the obvious point that parents are responsible. Do you understand?
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Simple Simon
The Child Care Board can institutionalized young children or they can place them with loving foster or adoptive parents.
Many of us are willing to wring our collective hands and to point our collective fingers at the Child Care Board.
But how many of us are willing to OPEN OUR HOMES to do the loving hard work involved in fostering or adopting a child in need?
How many?
And therein lies our problem.
And thererin lies our solution.
Hard work and love.
Nothing more, nothing less.
Dear David: If you had been asked to take in little Jahan and to raise him to adulthood.
Would you have said yes?
There are other little Jahans…just waiting to be killed by parents or step parents.
The grandmother who was not up to attending the funeral is quoted in yesterday’s newspaper to say she should have created more awareness about her concerns.
On 21 August 2015 at 22:23, Barbados Underground wrote:
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Simple Simon
@David August 21, 2015 at 4:41 PM “How are adults capable of such negligence to have resulted in the death of this little boy?”
Not negligence David.
Malice.
EXTREME MALICE.
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Donna
Jahan King had other places to go. His grandmother wanted to keep him and the lady who raised his father though facing health challenges would have taken him back. His father was soon to be released from jail. They would not have had to keep him for long.
Also, I remember hearing that Shamar Weekes had other options.
Taking and raising other people’s children is part of our culture. If given the necessary support I am certain many would volunteer. I have that plan in the works for the near future. The ideal situation, however is to work with some of the families and offer them support and the ability to change their ways. Some mothers just need counselling, skills training and a job or micro business to enable them to rid themselves of abusive boyfriends. Some mothers are just overworked, underpaid and frustrated and take it out on their children. Some young mothers just need a break so they can have some time to enjoy themselves. Even if we don’t take the child and raise him or her there are many ways we can help, depending on the severity of the problem.
Given the mouthings of the Chairman of the CCB some serious questions need to be asked of the performance of that body established to be last resort protection of our children.
On 24 August 2015 at 10:26, Barbados Underground wrote:
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de Ingrunt Word
Abuse. It comes in various guises. It is a result of different psychological stresses/deficiencies.
The recent news that Dr. Sean Jackson plead guilty to his indictment of child sexual abuse is disturbing at all levels for this 42 year-old Bajan and of course also for the 10 year old child.
As a Bajan I am deeply saddened at this turn of events and as a parent of a child who attends music lessons not unlike this 10 year-old I am very pleased that this was nipped quickly and a predator did not initiate what would have been a sad and grave psychological damage for the child.
I do not know Dr. Jackson so this matter is absolutely shocking but we now all look on with despair as all the questions seek answers: Is this the first time; what would have provoked him to solicit a child in this way; is he hiding deep seated issues of abuse himself; is this a sad and painfully cruel misunderstanding for which he took the hit?
And of course for his family, what help can they provide to ensure that he gets beyond this and does not complete the ultimate personal end-game scenario, suicide?
This is absolutely tragic because of the fame of the man but helps shine a bright light again on the different types of abuse issues that children have to endure.
In our parents’ generation there is a very, very small possibility that the word of this child would have been considered over that of the big-time Phd music master. And thus the start of a life of abuse and suffering.
Thank the Lord for change and adults listening and being alert that allows the Jehan Kings and others to be saved!
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Donna
David,
True. Please ensure that you help us to ask them on a regular basis.
Another one gone. Apparently sustained injuries while jumping up and down on a bed. Treated and discharged two weeks ago from the QEH. Dead two weeks later. Business as usual in beautiful Barbados!
The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.