(CNS): Increasing crime and violence as well as the economy and education are issues troubling the country’s young people as well as adults. These are the findings of various surveys which have contributed to a new national youth policy. Compared with the previous NYP survey over a decade ago when sex-related issues and boredom concerned school children it is now the problem of rising violence and increased juvenile crime which will be taking centre stage in the government’s new youth policy expected to be tabled in the Legislative Assembly next year. Scotland told a recent meeting that there were no quick fixes regarding the problems facing the country’s young people. (Teenager arrested after a Bodden Town Robbery – Dennie Warren Jr)
According to a GIS release the government ministry with responsibility for youth previewed the new National Youth Policy (NYP) last week. The 100 page document which will replace the original policy written in 1999 was discussed at a meeting with government officials and the National Youth Commission established to lookout for the interests of young people.
“The picture may seem bleak at this time, but there are no ‘quick-fixes.’ It will take an integrated effort to address the needs of our youth,” said the Minister for Youth Mark Scotland. The document reportedly contains a number of practical corrective recommendations but government officials said it will continue to be reworked over the next few weeks.
Drug abuse, the high number of juvenile arrests and the rise in violence among youth are some of the major problems identified by the National Youth Commission in this latest policy document. In recent months a number of teenagers under the age of sixteen have been arrested for serious offences including murder and armed robbery.
Scotland said the NYP would be an important tool in addressing the problems faced by young people in Cayman but in the meantime reform was already underway in some areas such as education and community affairs.
National Youth Commission (NYC) Chairperson Jennifer Manderson, who has been working on the document said the country had to do everything within its means to protect young people from abuse and exposure to damaging influences even though they maybe from within their own communities and families.
According to the GIS release the commission was started November 2001. Its overreaching goals are to recognise the unique role which young people can play in the development of the Cayman Islands; to create an enabling environment which enhances their opportunities, and to promote positive social transformation.
kids have a mind of their own!
alot of these kids now have a mind of their own wheather we like it or not. it is not always the parents fault, most of these parents live in good areas where they can afford to or even hire babysitters, and party all night long, (but they don’t tell you that, they say i had to go to a meeting) .
i am a single mother who will not use the excuse that my child needs a father i can’t be bothered to waste my time, i brought them into this world with yes help from a man, who walked out on me left the burden to meto raise two BOYS, thats fine he ain’t my god, when i need something i get on my knees and ask god, it states in the bible " ask and ye shall receive" he always in some other form answers me.
kids in teenage years are always the hardest to control, they see what they friends have they ask their parents for it, parents can’t afford it, and i am very certain that parents do explain why they cannot get it, so what is left for them to do when they really want something so bad, they will in turn go and steal it just to have what their friends have, so i am assuming that is the parents fault?
parents if your child grown up to be a fine mature man or woman, its because that child made up their minds, to understand what you are going through and appreciate what you have done for them. these kids has had it rough. GOOD JOB WELL DONE.
i always wonder why kids from highly educated professional parents, always end up partying to hard, on drugs all tattoo up, man they look awful, maybe it’s because to much love and money throwing in their way, they never had to earn anything for them selves. yea i know i am so going to be cussed out, but it’s the truth.
i grew up in a home when my mother would use the strap on me if it was needed, and beleive you me i was poor, i am now a woman have never done anything illegal and i hope that i don’t. kids come from diffrent background some good some bad, and if the ones that come from the bad we as parents should stop pointing our fingers to SOCIAL SERVICES , kids resent this, and try to see how we as gods people can help. "yea you forgot that didn’t you you go to church every sunday, but seems to me you kinda fell asleep at the pews".
this world has never been in harmony since back in bibical days, when kids get to that age that they can go on their own, what diffrence does it make any crime that is committed it always lands back on the parents that they are the bad ones, even as they are mature into adulthood, we as parents are always there to pick them back up and brush them off.
news for you when you are the MR. and MRS. high almighty parents and it’s your kids that are the ones that do the crime, it’s a diffrent story you do’t want to hear about no ones hardships, but we must then listen to yours when it happens. what a joke. you are no better than i am.
How many Caymanian families are hiding the secrets of these young gangsters?
When these young men who are out of control cross the line into violence and sometimes murder it is too late and keeping secrets is wrong.
A lesson must be taught to these young men that they will be held responsible for their actions.
The schools must teach this lesson to these young people and let the irate parents be jailed if they cannot control themselves.
the guys in grand cayman need some fatherly advise from the fathers in the brac on how to raise sons. you don’t see the boys from there in and out of prison with the exception of maybe one/two.
You have got to be kidding. I can count the real fathers in Brac on one hand.
As for going to jail, well Cayman Brac has the art of Cover-Up 101 perfected. I know I’m going to get thumbs down for this because it will definitely hit the truth for many people. It’s all who yo Mama and Papa is.
Yeah, Buy a yacht for them and some BLING BLING and fill the bulk head with High grade……Lets shoot a video.
Where are the fathers?!?! DAT’S RIGHT. Where are the father’s???
Cayman’s youth today are lacking fatherly guidance….am sure if you ask the majority of these kids who they live with – they will say my mother or my auntie, my grandmother…… MAJORITY of Cayman men need to stop denying their children to avoid responsibilty and step up to the plate. Bad nuff that the single mothers have to come home to cook, clean, help w/ homework etc but now also monitor there childs whereabout’s…..while the worthless "sperm donors" are out making more babies and/or selling dope at night so they can sleep in all day!!! W O R T H L E S S!!
STEP UP MEN…….AM SURE YOUR PAPA’S AND DADDY’S TOOK UNNA FISHING AND PLAYING BALL WHEN UNNA WAS YOUNGER NAH TRUE?!?!?!
These kids have no role models left….. what a shame……
Send them to Monaco to do some brainstorming!!
Hold parents responsible for the actions of their children younger than age 18!
"It will take an integrated effort to address the needs of our youth"
That one statement is THE story-teller. What does this mean to each of us? But also how will this play out in the way we handle our youth in our Education system with needs; our Social Services Department in at risk youth; Our Labour department in going to bat for opportunities; our Immigration policies in balancing our Caymanian numbers with that our transcient numbers on permit; Our Police Service, in the way they view our youth, interact and process youth when they run contrary to stautes (very important); Our Prison system and how we house and seek to REHABILITATE those who may end up in jail; Our Courts and the way they are viewed and handled by the courts; our media and the messages they send; The arts and Sports and providing for new and vibrant opportunities for self discovery and expression of the soul; our churches and community at large and the programmes, messages and opportunities for addressing and affirming the whole person; the home, in strengthening and assisting struggling parents and not making them feel isolated or bad forrunning into problems and celebrating those who is committed to raring our future.
Nation building awareness, self actualization and expansion of the youth mind and desires in all settings are some of the things I would like to see. Only when we begin to recognize and do all we are suppose to do, as a society, in fully raring a nation of youth who are affirmed, protected, corrected, equiped and proud of their nation and who can identify how their contribution matter will we make a difference.
If we are hald committed to this task and let the document sit again on the shelf for another few years – pay lip service, then no doubt our crime situation continues and guess what folks we ALL fail.
Draw your circle of family and influence to include every child you encounter…rather every young person you encounter. The messages must be – we are truly here for you. It almost seems selfserving and false because we recognize we need our youth to be on-board to secure our future. And yes it is to an extent; but, is that not part of the reason why we care for children the first place in the home? We realize we are getting old and may need them? All we are doing is truly committing the process to TRUE NATION BUILDING and helping our youth to realize their social and communal obligations.
Is this all a tall order for a Policy. I do pray so. Anything less…well we shorten ourselves.
CNS: This release Should have been a headline piece in the bold. The issue of youth is so germane to all that we are dealing with. Not my a critizing, just an opinion and suggestion 🙂 thx.
I agree, these kids only understand one thing. They have to be broken like the wild animals they are.
09:45. while I and everyone is sick of the violence that these are causing, your attitude shows why we are in the space we are today. These kids are human beings and should not be beaten in public. It is the parents fault in 99% of the cases why these kids have grown into wild orangutans and are causing damage to our why of life. I aggree they need to be dealt with harshly, but so should the parents of minors – perhaps that will stop people from reproducing like wild spear chuckers, throwing children with whatever man or woman of the day (as if you were a rabbiat) , if you were held accountable for the actions of yourself and child. There is no sense of duty to raise a child these days. This is the very cause of the problems.
I take exception to you insulting the gentle nature and intelligence of Orangutans by equating them to these mindless thugs.
Why are they waiting until next year for the policy to be tabled in the LA?
Surely this is far more important than the dormant account policy that went through the LA at the speed of light.
New Policy?
I got your new policy right here. Public Caning! Beat them and all those guilty by association.
They do this in countries like Iran and Saudi Arabia. Do you really want the good Christian country of Cayman to be like them?
They also do it in Singapore (no tolerance)and it works.
That is cruel and evil. It’s this mentality type that produces monsters. Slaves & remnants were treated this way. Perhaps it’s a ‘handed down’ curse. Of course there were others who were/are equally as wicked or sick. That’s why they jail child abusers!
If you’re going to be barbaric, what is the punishment for the dead beat fathers? Clip clip clip – no more ‘just a sperm donor’ — they are worse than their offspring. Men should be forced to support their children or do the time.
PS All the above is wrong. Love and nurturing is the answer – not abuse.
You dads & moms also – hug and kiss your kids/teenagers every day. Tell them ‘I love you’ and show it – it makes their day