Attorney says legislation will toughen child maintenance laws, safeguard protection:


Bahamas Information Services -





NASSAU, The Bahamas --- Attorney Kayla Greene said recently that the proposed (Family And) Child Protection Act, 2006, will provide the Department of Social Services with statutory powers to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and to mediate in circumstances where children’s rights are being infringed upon.

“This is a critical responsibility that is being placed on the Department of Social Services (but) it’s a duty that they have already assumed,” Ms. Greene said.

Examining sections of the proposed legislation that relate specifically to the Rights of the Child, Custody and Maintenance, Ms. Greene, an attorney in the Office of the Attorney General, said that Section 37 of the Act makes provisions for the Department of Social Services to institute proceedings for maintenance against any person who has responsibility for maintaining the child in the care of the Department.

“So if we have a child in the Children’s Home and they have a father or mother who has responsibility for their maintenance, the Department of Social Services can institute proceedings to enforce the maintenance order against that particular parents and this also relates to institutions such as Sandilands Rehabilitation Centre,” Ms. Greene said.
Section 22 of the Act gives the Court jurisdiction in all matters relating to custody to make an order for a parent not having custody of a child to make payment towards the child maintenance.

“So even if a mother doesn’t have custody or the father doesn’t have custody, the Court has jurisdiction to order either one of them to make payments towards the maintenance of the child.

Ms. Greene said that among other key matters addressed in the proposed legislation is the provision under Section 42 of the proposed Act which provides for a single woman to bring an application for maintenance within five years of the birth of her child, an increase of two years over the previous time-frame of three years.

She said that the five-year time-frame extends to six years in circumstances where the father is out of the jurisdiction.

Ms. Greene said another key component of the proposed legislation is Section 43 which provides Magistrates with the powers to prohibit a person from leaving the jurisdiction if adequate provisions have not been made for the maintenance of the child.

Section 43 of the proposed legislation is reinforced by Section 51 which requires that a person ordered to make maintenance payments by the Court, give notice of any change in address. Failure to do so will constitute an offence that is subjected to a fine not exceeding $2000.

“The Act also outlines some of the factors a Magistrate may consider in making an Order for Maintenance and these include the income, earning capacity, financial needs and the standard of living of the respondent, the age of the dependent and the respondent, the physical or mental disability of the dependent or respondent and of course the contribution by either party,” Ms. Greene said.

“And of course the Act, as is the case now, makes provisions for the committal of non-payment,” Ms. Greene added.

Ms. Greene said that “even in circumstances where a person has been committed for non-payment of maintenance, their committal will not discharge them from their obligations.

“So they will serve their time, but the order will still be in place in relation to maintenance,” Ms. Greene added.

Attorney Greene said that under Section 61 of the proposed Act, persons who receive maintenance payments, but misapplies those funds resulting in the neglect of a child, will be guilty of an offence that will be punishable by a fine of $5,000 and two years imprisonment upon conviction.

Ms. Greene said the laws of any society must be dynamic and “continuously evolving” to respond to the various issues and challenges facing that society, be it social or otherwise. She said it is precisely the social issues that this particular bill seeks to address in addition to meeting the country’s commitment to certain international principles having ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

“This Bill seeks to address issues of children’s rights, maintenance, custody and the various social issues while simultaneously helping The Bahamas to meet its international commitment under the Convention of the Rights of the Child,” Ms. Greene said.

“The public discussions are designed to hear the views of the citizens of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas and so to see, based on their response, whether there would be a need to revisit any of the provisions,” Ms. Greene added.

05/26/2006

bahamas

Ministry to host series of meetings on proposed child legislation:


Bahamas Information Services -





NASSAU, The Bahamas --- The Ministry of Social Services and Community Development will continue its series of Town Meetings on the proposed (Family And) Child Care Protection Act, 2006 in the Family Islands next week with a visit to Abaco on Monday.

The meetings got underway Tuesday, May 23 in New Providence at the Bahamas Communications and Public Officers Union Building, Farrington Road and are designed to solicit public response to the proposed legislation which if enacted, will result in the repeal of a number of existing pieces of legislation, among them, the Children and Young Persons Act, Chapter 97; the Maintenance of Emigrants Act, Chapter 128 the Guardianship and Custody of Infants Act, Chapter 132; the Affiliation Proceedings Act, Chapter 133 and the Infants Relief Act, Chapter 134.

The proposed legislation will also result in changes to sections of the Penal Code and the Adoption of Children’s Act. Minister of Social Services and Community Development, the Hon Melanie Griffin, said the new thrust “will no doubt” challenge some of the age-old cultural practices and beliefs about effective child-rearing and intervention practices and will entail offering more rehabilitative and family services to children in conflict with the law.

“The proposed legislation seeks first to implement measures that will enable the enforcement in law of certain responsibilities that persons should discharge towards the elderly and young with whom they have relations and will secondly seek to enable The Bahamas to fulfill certain obligations assumed under the Convention of the Rights of the Child,” Mrs. Griffin said.

Minister Griffin said the draft legislation covers a wide range of matters including the Rights of the Child, Custody, maintenance Rights and Duties of Members of the Family As between Themselves, Care and Protection of Children, the Establishment of a National Committee for Families and Children, Juvenile Courts, Places of Detention and Children Detained or Brought before a Court.

She said that while the proposed legislation will include several of the provisions currently included in the various Acts that are intended to form part of the new legislation, it also contains “some new and innovative provisions.”

“These include, but are not limited to, raising the age of criminal responsibility from seven years to ten years; Supervision Orders for uncontrollable children in the first instance rather than committal to a detention centre; raising the upward age for juvenile centre detainees from 16 to eighteen years of age, in addition to provisions for a Minor’s Advocate who will be responsible for representing children without legal representation (and) who are parties in court proceedings such as those before the Juvenile Court,” Minister Griffin said.

“It is the intent of the Government of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas to undertake wide public consultation on this proposed piece of legislation which I feel will have some far-reaching, positive consequences for children, families and a number of agencies that provide services to them,” Mrs. Griffin added.

Minister Griffin and a team of technical experts from the Ministry of Social Services and Community Development and the Office of the Attorney General will travel to Abaco on Monday to host a town meeting that will address various aspects of the proposed legislation.

They will travel to Grand Bahama two days later (Wednesday, May 31) for Town Meetings at Mary Star of the Sea (Freeport, Grand Bahama) and the Bartlett Hill Primary School in Eight Mile Rock, Grand Bahama. The meetings are scheduled to get underway at 7pm.

Ministry and government officials anticipate wrapping up the public consultative process by the end of June, 2006.

“These consultations will provide citizens of The Bahamas with the opportunity to seek clarification on the provisions included in the proposed legislation, to offer constructive criticism and to advance suggestions for improvements,” Mrs. Griffin added.

05/26/2006

bahamas

Proposed legislation to impact Child-rearing practices:


Bahamas Information Services -





NASSAU, The Bahamas --- Minister of Social Services and Community Development, the Hon., Melanie Griffin said the proposed Family and Child Protection Act, 2006 and some of the anticipated changes in law that will accompany the bill will “no doubt” have far-reaching implications on some of the age-old cultural practices about effective child-rearing and intervention practices in The Bahamas.

She said the proposed legislation will have “positive consequences for children, families and a number of agencies that provide services to them.”

Addressing a Town Meeting held at the Bahamas Communications and Public Officers Union Building, Farrington Road, Minister Griffin said that if enacted, the proposed legislation will result in the repeal of a number of Acts currently in place including the Children and Young Persons Act, Chapter 97; the Maintenance of Emigrants Act, Chapter 128; the Guardianship and Custody of Infants Act, Chapter 132; the Affiliation Proceedings Act, Chapter 133 and the Infants Relief Act, Chapter 134.

Mrs. Griffin said the proposed legislation will also result in changes to several sections of the Penal Code and the Adoption of Children’s Act.

“This new thrust will no doubt challenge some age-old cultural practices and beliefs about effective child-rearing and intervention practices and it will entail offering more rehabilitative and family services to children in conflict with the law”, Mrs. Griffin said.

“The proposed legislation seeks firstly to implement measures that will enable the enforcement in law of certain responsibilities that persons should discharge towards the elderly and young with whom they have relations and will secondly seek to enable The Bahamas to fulfill certain obligations assumed under the Convention on the Rights of the Child,” Mrs. Griffin added.

Minister Griffin said the restructuring of the Children and Young Persons (Administration of Justice) Act which was enacted in 1947 to safeguard the rights and interests of children and amended “several times over the years” has been under consideration for some time as the Act “has not kept pace with today’s social realities.”

She said in April 1995, a committee comprising representatives from government and non-governmental organizations was appointed to critically review and examine the “inadequacies and antiquated practices of this Act” particularly from the perspective of proposing a cohesive philosophy for services to children and families. The Committee submitted its report in June 1999.

Minister Griffin said shortly thereafter, several attempts were made to prepare a draft for the restructuring of the Act, but that the matter did not receive focused attention until 2004.

“However, having regard to some issues that arose after the process started and some concerns expressed by various interest groups, it was determined that the restructuring should be broadened to take into account necessary changes to other pieces of relevant legislation.

“Since then, my ministry has been working closely with the Law Reform Commission in the Office of the Attorney general on this matter,”Mrs. Griffin said.“ I am happy to report that we now have this draft Bill for consideration.”

Minister Griffin said the draft legislation covers a wide range of matters including the Rights of the Child, Custody, Maintenance Rights and Duties of Members of the Family As between Themselves, Care and Protection of Children, the Establishment of a National Committee for Families and Children, Juvenile Courts, Places of Detention and Children Detained or Brought before a Court.

She said that while the proposed legislation will include several of the provisions currently in the Acts which are intended to form part of the new legislation, it also contains some “new and innovative provisions.”

“These include, but are not limited to raising the age of criminal responsibility from seven years to ten years; Supervision Orders for uncontrollable children in the first instance rather than committal to a detention centre; raising the upper age for the juvenile detention centre from 16 to 18 years of age, in addition to provisions for a Minor’s Advocate who will be responsible for representing children without legal representation who are parties in court proceedings such as those before the Juvenile Court,” Minister Griffin said.

“I wish to stress that this is a work in progress. It is not a ‘Done Deal’ and we wish to obtain the views of the public on this matter before proceeding any further,” Minister Griffin added.

05/26/2006

bahamas

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While in-office teeth bleaching is the safest route to go, home teeth bleaching can be also be safe,and effective,if done properly and under the supervision of a dentist.

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About The Author


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Police Protest Against AG:

By Stephen Gay -
Nassau, Bahamas:


In what they said was an act intended to show that they would not stand for any abuse of the judicial system, more than 100 police officers turned out in Bank Lane yesterday, demanding that authorities reverse a decision to forward a police shooting case to the Magistrate’s court.

The officers were led by Inspector Bradley Sands, executive chairman of the Police Staff Association, who accused the attorney general of unjust interference in the particular matter.

The officers’ protest was timed to coincide with the expected appearance in the Magistrate’s court of Constable Nathaniel Charlow, who was reportedly scheduled to be charged with manslaughter.

The matter stems from the shooting of Deron Bethel, 20, in Pinewood Gardens.

Bethel was shot to death under unclear circumstances on Monday, March 27. Witnesses say the shooter, who was dressed in plainclothes and riding in an unmarked car, only identified himself as a police officer after having allegedly shot Bethel.

Since the shooting, Diana Bethel, the young man’s mother, has called for justice and answers.

An autopsy revealed that while initial reports suggested only a single shot was fired, Bethel was shot three times, each one potentially fatal.

A coroner’s inquest into the death was expected to begin on Monday, but it soon emerged that the Attorney General’s office had forwarded the matter to the Magistrate’s court.

Mr. Charlow’s attorney, Desmond Bannister, said the shooting occurred while police were on the job investigating a complaint by a young woman who had reported that she had had a gun held to her.

Mr. Bannister said he had found out that the Attorney General’s office sent the matter to the Magistrate’s court for Mr. Charlow to be charged with manslaughter.

The officer remains on the job at the Criminal Detective Unit.

"He was not charged due to the expression of solidarity," Mr. Bannister said.

The attorney accused the attorney general, who is also the member of parliament for Pinewood, of responding to constituent concerns.

"Constituent concerns ought not come into play," Mr. Bannister said. "The charges were not brought. We hope common sense will prevail."

If Mr. Charlow is charged with manslaughter before a determination from the coroner’s court, he said, "It would be a very unfortunate day in the Bahamas."

Inspector Sands, meanwhile, told reporters, "I am getting the brothers to understand that there comes a point in the Royal Bahamas Police Force when we need to close ranks and we’re closing ranks at this particular point."

He added, "Criminals are given due process when they are involved in shootings and so forth, or any offence that they are charged with. Due process in this matter is for this matter to go before the coroner’s court and the [coroner] to make a recommendation based on what the jury says."

It is after this process that the attorney general is at liberty to proceed with the matter, the inspector said.

"It is just wrong for the attorney general to want to just use what I refer to as veto power and just proceed to the Magistrate’s court with this charge."

He said the officers’ presence was intended to show officer Charlow, "My brother, we’ve got your back."

"We received some advice that the matter has been put off, stand down were the words that were used," Inspector Sands said. "So, we don’t know how they are going to come back with the matter, but seriously, they need to be careful in how they proceed in this matter because it could have a ripple effect in the Royal Bahamas Police Force."

He suggested that if the matter is not dealt with in the right way, many officers would be killed before they act.

Inspector Sands said some police officers would be concerned that there would be political interference if they carry out their duties in the constituencies of influential members of parliament.

The attorney general said last evening that she would release a statement today.

Shortly after the shooting, she voted not to allow a cover-up of the incident.

"I want the people to be assured of swift justice," she said at the time. "The [question of a] cover-up came from my own community; people are very, very concerned about shooting incidents, especially when they involve the police…and we will be sure that they are all, every single one of them, thoroughly investigated."

24 May 2006