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Barrington H. Brennen |
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From every segment of The
Bahamian society, we can hear the cries of concerns about
the continual increase of crime in our lovely country.
Although we are still a peaceful country and there are still
islands that are not impacted by crime and violence, yet per
capita, our murder and violent crimes rates are much, much
too high. We can dialogue, debate, argue, or discuss about
solutions, but unless action takes place there will be no
change. There are generally two approaches to social change
and crime reduction and in a country. One is responsive and
the other is preventative. I believe we are doing a good
job in responding to criminal activities and the many social
ills in our community. I commend the police for the great
work and diligence in responding to criminal activities.
Their job is to respond. I also commend the Department of
Social Services in the Ministry of Labour, Social Services
and Community Development, for providing the curative
responses to the social ills in our country. The social
workers are overworked with case loads that are
unbelievable.
I have been a member of the
Child Protection Council for more than fifteen years. This
is a council that provides education and information on
child abuse in our country. We have been making a positive
impact on the lives of countless families. Often committee
members travel to many of the islands to share information
on child abuse.
The Ministry of Education and
the Ministry of Health both have excellent programs for
parents, singles, and families that are every effective. In
fact, many people are not aware of the programs that are
conducted each day and week. However, all of the programs
mentioned in this article and the many more not mentioned
are not sufficient for crime prevention. There is a need
for a more centralized, unified, proactive, national
approach to
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"As mentioned earlier, there is a need for
one cohesive, national body to develop and
coordinate programs for family wellness.
The department of Family Life is an answer."
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family wellness, social
development and crime prevention in our country. How can we
accomplish this?
THE NEW DEPARTMENT
Since 1996 I have been
advocating in this newspaper that creating healthy families
is the first answer to crime prevention and the reduction of
many of our social ills. I have written over and over that
weak, dysfunctional families produce a weak, violent
nation. We need a much greater emphasis on family life and
family wellness in our nation and it needs to come from the
national level. One way of doing this is to establish a
Ministry of Family, Social Services and Community
Development. Currently there is a Ministry of Social
Services and Community Development with one department: the
Department of Social Services. I believe that adding
“family” to the name of the ministry and having a department
of family life will help to put family education and crime
prevention on the front burner. I suggest that the
Department of Social Services be totally responsible for
responding to social ills—the curative. On the other hand,
the Department of Family life will be responsible for
prevention through education and training—family wellness.
HOW WILL THIS WORK?
The proposed Department of
Family Life in the new Ministry of Family, Social Services
and Community Development should have a number of proactive
programs and activities designed to teach individuals how to
have healthy relationships, family life, and marriages.
Hence, here are a few of my suggestive national programs:
national single adults program, national women’s programs,
national men’s program, national parenting program
(including pregnancy education and pre-parenting program),
national teenage and children’s program, national marriage
program. Each program will be well developed to provide
education and training. These national programs can also be
the centralized programs that all other governmental
ministries and agencies will utilize. The new department
can help push for the need of mandatory health certification
for marriage and mandatory post–divorce counseling sessions
for parents with dependent children.
As mentioned earlier, there
is a need for one cohesive, national body to develop and
coordinate programs for family wellness. The department of
Family Life is an answer. The department will place a much
greater emphasis on prevention. The old adage is true:
“prevention is better than cure.” While we have a strong
contingent of well-trained individuals to respond to the
social ills, we must have an equally strong force that will
prevent the increase of social ills and crime.
HURTING FAMILIES
We need strong families in
our country. Too many individuals are hurting, crushed, and
socially crippled. If we can start from the cradle with
proper education, we will reduce the risk of one ending up
in prison or on a most-wanted list. If we can get started
on prevention we may not see a result immediately, but we
will see it by the next generation. We must start now.
Barrington H. Brennen
is a marriage and family therapist and a board certified
clinical psychotherapist (USA). Send your questions or
comments to
question@soencouragement.org or call 1242-327-1980 or
visit the website at
www.soencouragement.org
