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

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