Guyana’s Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Vindhya Persaud has revealed that her ministry is ramping up its cracking down on parents who leave their children unattended to wander Guyana’s streets.
The Minister who disclosed this development in an interview with the Department of Public Information (DPI), enjoined parents to take their responsibility seriously.
She said “On the streets, we’ve been working with children, picking them up. We’ve managed to remove over 40 of those children… This year we are going to have zero tolerance for children on the streets”.
In her words, Child Care and Protection Agency (CCPA) has found that most of the children taken off the streets are not orphans.
“We have found that 99 per cent of those children have homes, have parents and they are on the streets for one reason or the other. We want the parents to understand that this is not to punish you, but this is to make you recognise you have a duty to your children and you should be cognizant of that,” she said.
She explained that her ministry is consulting with parents to address the social scourge and will be using the ‘Street Light’ initiative to tackle the problem.
Local reports have it that as part of the initiative, CCPA officials and Guyana Police Force officers patrol communities to ensure children are kept off the streets.
