Within the past three months, the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security’s 914 emergency hotline received a total of 197 reports, 80% of which were domestic violence (DV)-related.
Speaking at a press conference held yesterday, Minister Dr Vindhya Persaud disclosed that 158 of the reports were DV-related, while the remaining 39 were child protection cases.
Region Four accounted for the highest number of reports, with 113. No calls were received from either Region One or Region Eight.
Additionally, 36 reports were received from Region Three, 14 came from Region Two and 18 from Region Six, while 5 reports each came from regions Five and Nine, and a total of 6 came from regions Seven and Ten.
As it relates to the childcare reports, Persaud noted that the hotline did not receive any calls from six of the ten administrative regions across the country.
She said 18 reports came from Region Four, 9 from Region Three, 7 from Region Six and the other 5 from Region Two.
Twenty-two of the reports requested counselling, which was provided, meanwhile eight reports were made to the police for immediate action to be taken.
As it relates to the callers who made the DV reports, Persaud said 116 were females and 40 were males. There were three callers who asked to remain anonymous.
There was also one instance where a child was a caller.
“Most of the other cases where child reports came in they were done by adults; usually persons outside of the situation and that’s a good thing because it means people are being vigilant and they are taking the issue of child abuse very seriously,” Persaud said.
The child abuse reports were referred to the Child Care and Protection Agency for further intervention, while the DV reports were forwarded to the respective District Probation Offices for further action.
According to Persaud, based on the nature and seriousness of the reports, officers intervened in various ways.
“Immediate intervention would require officers to contact the police directly if there are issues that require immediate intervention—to take a person or a child to safety. That has been occurring and, of course, those who are in situations that do not warrant immediate attention, the officers will intervene, whether it’s counselling or whether its linkage to our support services,” she explained.
Currently, Persaud said that there are 17 operators who were trained to manage the hotline.
The Minister added that efforts are underway to recruit operators who speak Spanish and Portuguese so as to accommodate reports from migrants.
Elder abuse
Meanwhile, Persaud explained that emphasis is going to be placed on using the hotline to also combat elder abuse. The issue, she said, is one that does happen but is often times not spoken about.
“….Elderly violence is very much out there and it can be anything from neglect to actual physical violence to even sexual violence that is perpetrated against elders….So we want to say to the elderly persons out there, 914 is also for you. Don’t think its only children or specific cases of violence,” Persaud added.
The minister is urging persons to “get into the habit” of reporting elder abuse. “If we are not going to speak about these things, then people going to feel that… it should be dismissed,” she stated.
The 914 hotline was launched last December in direct response to the escalating number of domestic and sexual violence cases.
The 24-hour toll-free hotline allows persons to call to report any form of violence and also seek assistance.
When a call is placed between 8 am and 4.30 pm, it is routed to a trained customer service operator, who, in turn, will connect the caller to a social worker.
Calls made after these hours and during the weekends will be forwarded to the cellphones of social workers and calls are expected be addressed with confidentiality.
The social workers are expected to provide necessary consultations and refer children and parents to local service providers and other relevant agencies. Since the hotline has been in operation, 208 prank calls were also received.
