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We can’t monitor all children’s homes, admits child protection authority
View(s):By Hansani Bandara
The National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) says it lacks sufficient officials to monitor and inspect all the children’s homes in the country. Assistance had been sought from the Department of Probation and Child Care Services (DPCCS), the authority’s Director, Anoma Dissanayake, said.
The director revealed the state of affairs when questioned about the recently-discovered scandal in the Tissamaharama children’s home, where the youth in care been used to kill pigs in a slaughter-house run by the home’s caretaker. “An inquiry is underway into the incident,” Mrs Dissanayaka said.
The Bodu Bala Sena Organisation (BBSO) this week announced it was willing to be guardians of the children in the Tissamaharama shelter if the authorities failed to take responsibility. “We have the capacity and resources to take care of these children, and we will ensure their safety,” said the organisation’s Program Co-ordinator, Dr Dilantha Withanage, at a press conference called on Wednesday at the Buddhist Cultural Centre.
The organisation’s President, Ven. Kirama Wimalajothi Thera, said the decision to offer to be the children’s guardians had been taken because the DPCCS or the NCPA were, he claimed, rejecting responsibility for the 89 children concerned.
He condemned the authorities for allowing the suspect out on bail, and questioned whether the children would be left in his custody.
He said the home had been established in 2000 and registered under the NCPA in 2006. “Why did the authorities fail to notice these activities for such a long time?” he asked.
He said the Bodu Bala Sena Organisation’s guardianship offer, made that day through the media, would be followed up with a written request to the authorities. In response, Mrs. Dissanayake said the NCPA had never denied responsibility for the children. She said the authority was considering launching an inquiry into whether any of the children had been subjected to other kinds of abuse.
Asked about the Buddhist body’s offer of guardianship, Mrs. Dissanayake said the authority would not grant guardianship of the children to another organisation simply because an offer had been floated. Custody would be granted to another children’s home.
The home’s caretaker, Kodithuwakku Arachchige Dayarathne, 43, was arrested last Monday for allegedly using the children in his care to slaughter pigs. He secured bail on Tuesday.
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