Efforts to deal with cases of child abuse and neglect more swiftly to ensure children get the protection they deserve faster has received a big
boost with the setting up of a special team for that purpose.
Announced by President James Michel in his State-of-the-Nation address last month, the Police Child Protection Team, which is already
operational, comprises four police officers and six social workers.
They are based in a unit in the social affairs department at Unity House.
The Police Child Protection Team is working in close collaboration with the social affairs department to better ensure that all reported or
suspected cases where a child is being abuse in any way receive immediate attention.
Meanwhile statistics from the social affairs department and the police show that children are still suffering from different forms of abuse.
Beryl Laboudallon, a principal social worker, said figures compiled by the social affairs department last year show 151 cases of sexual abuse,
83 cases of physical abuse and 41 cases of child neglect.
She noted that out of the 151 cases of sexual abuse, 133 cases are already being investigated by the police.
For her part sub-inspector (SI) Agnes Fanchette said the police for their part recorded 48 cases of sexual abuse, 15 cases of child neglect and
25 cases of physical abuse last year.
She noted that the social affairs department received more cases as these are reported there first but the figures she mentioned are the cases
that are reported directly to the police or are referred to the police by social affairs for prosecution.
SI Fanchette and Ms Laboudallon have welcomed the new initiative whereby the police and social workers work closer together under the
same roof.
“As police officers we had so many different cases to deal with but now the officers on the team are working on child abuse cases only. No
doubt such cases will be dealt with more swiftly as we will not be attending to other matters and being under the same roof with the social
workers will make communication easier and faster as we will be investigating cases together,” SI Fanchette pointed out.
For her part Ms Laboudallon noted that the way the police and the social workers investigate cases will not change but there will be a better
understanding and more coordination between the two parties on cases as they are now conducting investigations together.
Ms Laboudallon added that child abuse cases on Praslin and La Digue will also be dealt with in the same manner.
It is worth noting that since the unit has become operational on March 1, it has worked on numerous cases of abuse on children and a case
has already been prosecuted.