Human Services: child curfew is a success

One week after the Ministry of Human Development reinstituted a curfew for Belize City children under the age of sixteen, coordinators are reporting success. For the past seven days, police and child protection officials have been combing the streets for unsupervised children, but according to Chief Executive Officer Anita Zetina, so far only a handful of kids have been picked up.

Anita Zetina, C.E.O., Ministry of Human Development
“We feel very positive about it. So far we’ve only found eight children total since its introduction last week Friday and we’ve found their parents at home, so we haven’t kept any of them in our care. We are very happy about the fact that parents are abiding by the law, which states that children in Belize City should not be out on the streets unaccompanied after eight o’clock.”

Kendra Griffith
“Usually what is the reaction of the parents when you take their children to them?”

Anita Zetina
“I think we’ve had a couple of cases where the parent didn’t even know the child was out, they thought that the child was at home in their bed or somewhere, but others did know. I think we also had a couple of them in which the parents themselves had sent them out to buy something at a nearby shop.”

Kendra Griffith
“How many patrols you all have out at night?”

Anita Zetina
“We normally have two patrols specifically dealing with the cases, but any police patrol out there can call those two patrols if they meet any child out.”

“We just want to remind parents that the curfew is ongoing, it is in effect and we want to thank them for cooperating with us and also encourage them to keep it up to ensure that children stay at home.”

The child curfew is in effect from eight at night to six in the morning.