My first reaction to reading the article on the tragic death of an at-risk 16-year-old girl placed in an overseas institution was guilt. I felt this way because, apart from a few heroes, I remained silent like the rest of our society over the alarming and negative reports on the apparent negligent care of Bermudian youngsters under the “non”-watchful eye of our Department of Child and Family Services.

So let me do a synopsis. September 2018, Politica news website reveals that a whistleblower reports four child agency staff are mistreating children in their care here on island. The director of the Department of Child and Family Services allowed them to continue working with these youngsters. He also did not address children’s complaints of neglect while residing in Bermuda’s treatment centre. An investigation by the Attorney-General revealed there was no misconduct and the director was incredulously not relieved of his duties.

In April 2019, The Royal Gazette reports that for 35 years, the Bermuda Government has been sending vulnerable young boys to the Glen Mills School in Pennsylvania, which is now closed as a result of verified attacks by staff on children. The director of DCFS stated that the last Bermudian youth sent was in 2017.

In May 2019, a government employee is accused of assaulting a teenage girl at the LF Wade International Airport.

The girl refused to board a flight to the United States, as she was being forced to return to an institution providing a psychoeducational programme. The young girl was reported as saying she did not want to go back because it was “horrific”.

In November 2019, the Attorney-General is accused of failing a five-year-old boy by not providing the funding for legal protection.

So I want to know to who the buck should stop with in regard to the negligent, tragically disastrous inaction and failure of the department in protecting vulnerable and at-risk Bermudian children in their care.

Does it stop with the director, the Attorney-General or the minister? And, really, does society even care?

It seems not, considering the deafening silence, apart from a few voices.

The heroes who have spoken out are parents who have had to reveal their pain to the media. The heroes are Tiffanne Thomas, the whistleblower, some in the legal fraternity, Family Centre and most notably Martha Dismont, who is now taking legal action against the minister because of her refusal to abide by the Court of Appeal judgment that the Government is breaching the rights of at-risk and vulnerable children by not providing funding for litigation guardians, as required by law.

It is astounding that the minister is not only breaching the law but aiming to introduce a draft Bill titled the Children Amendment Act 2018, which would erode the rights of children to have independent legal representation in court.

I voted for a labour party because in my mind they care more about the people than a conservative party. But it is Leah Scott, of the One Bermuda Alliance, who has been most vocal in support of changes to the DCFS.

It is absolutely imperative that we have loving and compassionate professionals working in our child services departments.

It is essential that due diligence and follow-up visits are made quarterly to our children in overseas institutions, and that each child is interviewed one-on-one with no intimidating circumstances such as someone from the institution being present when the child is interviewed. It is an absolute must that each child be able to submit their own report of their experiences in their own handwriting. It is critical that each visit to a child in an overseas institution is reported with that child’s own report and kept on file.

Likewise, these same measurable actions should be also applied to the care facilities on island.

I expect and hope that the party that I voted for steps up to the plate and does the right thing for our vulnerable, at-risk children. The consequences of not doing so are that these children will be candidates for Leroy Bean’s gang prevention/mitigation efforts, or they could end up with avoidable addiction and mental health issues, which would increase dramatically their chances of being incarcerated or institutionalised.

Nothing changes unless society puts pressure on the Government. The DCFS needs a whole new culture, a new leadership and an overhaul of mandates and procedures. No one should be working with children unless they are committed and passionate about nurturing them.

After all, these children’s life experiences are already difficult and often sad to begin with, which is why they are in need of help, not abuse.

•Cheryl Pooley is a social commentator and three-times former parliamentary candidate