dragging its feet in coming to the aid of sexually abused youngsters.

But Health and Social Services Minister the Hon. Quinton Edness said he was about to announce a major overhaul of his Ministry to address the problem.

This was in response to indications sexual abuse in nursery schools was "more widespread than imagined''.

Mrs. Cooper charged a first-ever centre for sexually molested children which she is planning to open next month was long overdue.

And she claimed the Health and Social Services Ministry had ignored a report it commissioned a decade ago proposing broad changes to toughen nursery school regulations.

The report had been "sitting dormant somewhere'' in the Ministry, she said.

The newly formed Coalition for the Protection of Children, which she founded, commissioned its own study two months ago after dozens of reports of child sex abuse came to its attention.

Most of the reports were made earlier this year to a hotline set up for parents concerned about their children at a certain nursery school.

Lawyer Ms Keren Lomas, with the help of day care centre owners and health care workers, prepared the report using the 1984 one as a guideline.

It was presented to Mr. Edness last week.

The Minister yesterday commended the coalition for carrying out the report, saying it contained several new thoughts.

However, he conceded it was almost a duplicate of the 1984 report carried out by a committee set up by the Chief Medical Officer.

He admitted being "disappointed'' the report's recommendations had not been implemented sooner.

But the Ministry had had "masses'' of other urgently needed legislation to prepare and was suffering a "tremendous'' staff shortage.

He added new nursery school regulations, taking into account the coalition's recommendations, were in fact now ready to be brought before Parliament.

Nursery schools were already implementing them in anticipation.

And next week he would be announcing a major reorganisation of the Social Services Department to better care for and help abused children. Services would be added to and strengthened, he said.

"There have been a number of complaints recently by parents causing us to believe the problem is bigger than we thought,'' he said. "Most of the alleged complaints were of sexual abuse in a particular nursery school.'' He added recent court cases involving child abuse allegations had also caused the Ministry to believe the problem was "more widespread than imagined''.

The Department already had facilities to care for sexually abused children, he said. But that did not mean the private sector should not open up another facility.

He praised Mrs. Cooper's plans for a Wesley Street centre for young sex abuse victims, saying it would help encourage more victims to come forward.

His only concern was that the standard of care provided by those running it "must be high''.

Among the coalition task force's recommendations were: Increasing the powers of the Minister to intervene in day care centres or nursery schools if he has reason to believe children in these settings are being abused; Ensuring that all staff in day care centres or nursery schools are qualified to work in such settings and they do not have a criminal record for committing an "offence against a person''; Ensuring that each day care facility has a healthy staff to child ratio -- 1:4 for children under a year, 1:5 for those between 12 and 30 months, 1:8 for two and a half to three-year olds, 1:10 for three-to-four-year-olds, and 1:12 for those who are four or five-years-old; and Requiring that people who look after more than one child at home for more than 15 hours a week be registered.

Mrs. Cooper stressed that the coalition was not advocating a "great deal of Government interference'' in child care or trying to come between private arrangements made between parents and their friends.

But she said "there are almost 60 licensed day care centres in Bermuda and most do not take children under two years old, which means a majority of children under two are being cared for by unregulated day caregivers''.

With the heightened awareness of a need for better regulation of day care centres or nursery schools, Mrs. Cooper said she was confident that Mr. Edness "will respond positively'' to the task force's report.

"It is our intention to follow this through and lobby if necessary for imminent change in the (Child Protection) legislation,'' she added.

Meanwhile, the coalition will be focusing on setting up the Institute for Child and Family Therapy.

Mrs. Cooper said so far the coalition has had a very difficult time finding resources in the community to meet the needs of abused nursery school children and their families.

In addition to counselling the centre will also focus on research and training seminars.