Guardians urged to use codes in child protection

Deputy Registrar at the National Children’s Registry, Lesia Bhagwandat Vassell, is encouraging parents and guardians to establish code words to help children avoid dangerous situations.

“So if someone comes to do the pick-up [of the child], that is the code they would use,” she told JIS News, noting that the child would not go with someone who does not know the code.

“But we need to also teach [children] their parents’ [real] names and their contact numbers, and we need to practise this, especially with our younger ones. Identify meet-up spaces, so that if the child gets separated, they know where to go,” she added.

Her recommendations came as she encouraged parents and guardians to be extra vigilant in safeguarding their children who are now out of school for the summer. Bhagwandat Vassell advised adults to teach children about what safety looks like.

“Firstly, you would want to have a conversation about stranger danger. Do not speak to strangers,” she said, while noting that statistics show children are also being hurt by people that they know.

“So yes, we’re going to tell them that not everybody that they are going to meet is going to be a bad person. We’re going to lay out some ground rules to them like don’t accept gifts, don’t accept rides,” she pointed out. She also encouraged parents to talk to children about what abuse, especially of a sexual kind, looks like.

“So private areas remain private; do not touch my body. This body belongs to me; no means no, and teach the child how to say no strongly, even if it comes off as being rude. Once the child is placed in an uncomfortable position, we need to teach the children to say no,” Bhagwandat Vassell stressed.

She also encouraged parents not to allow children to go to places where they are not sure they are going to be safe, even at sleepovers at the homes of friends, who the guardians should know.

“Many times, when children go missing and we ask for information such as ‘Who are their friends? Where do they live? What is the name of their parents?’, the parents or guardians are unable to say who these friends are and where they frequent. Those are some of the conversations that we need to have with the children, especially the older ones,” she said.

Statistics from the Missing Persons Monitoring Unit at the Child Protection and Family Services Agency indicate that 467 children were reported missing between January and May this year. Some 309 of those children were safely reunited with their families.