Assistant Commissioner of Police Reginald Ferguson is advising parents to be more responsible and see to it that their children arrive to and from their destinations safely. Moreover, he said that there should be adult supervision for children who are commonly seen on the streets and who are barely able to manage themselves in the presence of danger.
“I would advise parents or guardians to be aware of their children’s whereabouts at all times and to make sure that their children get to wherever it is that they are going in a safe manner,” he said. “You should protect and safeguard the little ones, despite whatever condition you are living in. As a responsible adult you should be able to contact the proper officials for help or ask someone to help you. Children are children and that is why there must be some kind of parental guidance. You just can’t leave children open to all kinds of experiences.”
Law enforcement officials have said that despite warnings repeatedly issued to parents about the large number of children, especially those between the ages of 3 and 9, walking home from school alone or roaming the streets at night, it still happens.
“One would think that children would not be allowed to travel on their own. Police from time to time would find children knocking around the street, or sometimes even lost. And they would pick them up and warn parents about the dangers their children are exposed to,” Assistant Commissioner Ferguson explained. “We do have this type of incident happening in our community. We have had incidents, where this has happened and we would find out who the parents are and point out to them that they might be in contravention of the law.”
He explained that in some instances where children are found wandering or walking the streets unsupervised, parents could be placed before the courts.
“If small children are found roaming the street by themselves, the matter would have to be properly investigated and each situation is not the same so it would be assessed to see if neglect was involved and prosecutable proceedings could take place,” he said.
According to some concerned citizens, young children can be seen walking the island’s streets at all hours without adult supervision.
“I find it very disturbing to see a child who looks as if he/she can barely take care of himself / herself walking on the street with a little toddler. This is ridiculous. This should not be happening and Bahamians know that there is a serious problem with this. You can basically see unsupervised children wandering around in the strangest places at the strangest times,” a concerned parent told the Guardian. “Something must be done now to protect these children because only when something terrible happens people seemed to be concerned.”
According to many experts, most children are not mature enough and responsible enough to walk home from school alone until they are at a minimum of 11 to 12 years of age. However, they advise parents to not take their responsibilities lightly, because children often find it hard to steer themselves away from dangerous situations.
By: LaShonne Outten, The Nassau Guardian
