Surviving daughter of Felicia Chen will receive psychotherapy
Assurances have also been made by the Department of Human Services that the surviving daughter of Felicia Chen will receive psychotherapy from an assigned counselor while the department makes an assessment regarding her future. Acting Director at the department is Lliani Arthurs.
Lliani Arthurs, Acting Director, Department of Human Services
“We have been with the family since the incident occurred Saturday and that we have contracted with a counselor who has been in there since Saturday working with the child and the family and will continue to provide counseling support for the them. So I just wanted to reassure the public that the child is not forgotten and that she is also receiving counseling as well.”
Marleni Cuellar
“Has it been decided where she will be placed as yet?”
Lliani Arthurs
“The department has intervened and made a temporary decision and we as part of the child protection system have to make those assessments and investigation in order to make a recommendation for a permanent decision.”
The People’s United Party also issued a release on the tragic death of the three Teul kids. The P.U.P. says that the “unprecedented incident brings into sharp focus the extreme challenges that many women and families face in Belize today, due especially to rising poverty, unemployment, and the increase in domestic violence and abuse based on reports.” According to the release, as a society, we must ensure that we struggle every day to prevent gender based violence and that under-aged young girls do not become pregnant and thus fall into a vicious cycle of dependency and vulnerability to domestic abuse.
I wish PUP had taken a step farther and offered a plan to eliminate underage and irresponsible pregnancies. I think that is a major factor in this sad case, the child-killer was pregnant at 15, and had 4 children within 6 years. Where is the responsibility in that? Sadly, she is not alone in the Jewel, many girls make babies they can never raise well, and they condemn those children to lives of desperation and deprivation.
China has had a “one child” policy for 35 years — would that help here? At least irresponsible girls could only ruin one life, not many.
How about the current government offering a program of prevention? It’s sad to see these incidents where no one sees what’s happening until the tragedy occurs, then the therapists, and agencies and all manner of governmental employees step in. Isn’t an ounce of prevention worth a pound of cure?