Coalition’s 40 Point Plan For A Better Bermuda
Reinstitute free tuition for the Bermuda College, stop incarcerating individuals who are unable to pay off debts, and extend witness protection and make much more use of the UK as a safe haven are some of the ideas included in The Coalition for the Protection of Children’s recently unveiled “40 Point Plan for a Better Bermuda.”
The Coalition said the plan “reflects 20 years of working with Bermuda’s most vulnerable children and their families. The recommendations are driven by the needs expressed by the hundreds of families that have come to us for help, as well as the perspectives offered by our staff and the numerous professionals we have worked with along the way.”
Some of the recommendations include:
- Stop the practice of expelling students in their early teens and provide therapeutic intervention
- Establish an alternative school for at risk or troubled youth with a focus on the talents and gifts of these young people
- Non academic students particularly young boys should be provided the option of technical training
- Re-institute free tuition for the Bermuda College for those who cannot afford the cost
- Reduce the mandatory wage deductions for individuals at the lowest end of the income scale
- Cap the interest and associated fees that credit collection firms are allowed to charge
- Increase the use of rent-geared-to-income housing and stop the practice of evicting families from BHC properties because they have fallen behind on their rent due to their inability to afford that rent
- Prevent fathers who refuse to pay child support from re-licensing vehicles, travelling abroad or renewing passports
- Stop the practice of automatically releasing violent offenders after 2/3rd of their sentence
- Stop the practice of incarcerating individuals who are unable to pay off debts.
- Extend witness protection and make much more use of the UK as a safe haven for those who testify or help the police
- In cases of child abuse (sexual or physical) provide victims with the option of testifying from behind a screen, via closed-circuit video in another room, or Skype from another location.
“We believe that if government follows this 40 point plan, we will see a substantial improvement in the lives of our most vulnerable families. As a consequence, we will all live in a healthier and safer community,” the Coalition said.
The full 40 point plan is below [PDF here]:
I am disturbed that the Coalition has not seen fit to propose protecting the rights of the children of migrant workers, in particular Philipinos.
They are too busy making up excuses for the badly behaved male youth. I didn’t notice any bullet points where parents are taught parenting skills or where these young men are taught how NOT to become parents of unwanted children. I’m all for giving a “hand-up,” but making excuses for what has become an epidemic here with young men seems like more of a “hand-out.” Many of these 40 points seem like band-aid approaches. I know we need to start somewhere but it seems like the number 40 was picked out of a hat and they strove to find just that amount. How about start with 10 points that actually make sense and will make a measurable difference?
I’m sure if dead beat fathers couldn’t re-license vehicles or travel abroad there would be a lot less unwanted children. I’m sure if this took affect much of the problem will be solved since players don’t look half as attractive to baby mammas when riding in a bus & not wearing their knockoff clothing they got in a Jersey outlet.
You need to lay off the skittles cause you seem to be tasting the rainbow a little too much. Why would Filipino children need protection in Bermuda. The majority of workers from the Philippines leave their children there with a relative where its cheaper to raise them. Most Bermudian parents are not fortunate enough to have this option. The few workers from the Philippines who bring their children here can somehow afford to have their child in a Bermudian private school while many Bermudians can’t. Once finished school its easier for the Filipino worker to get their child a work permit & job than a Bermudian to get a job.
I know someone who remarried a Filipino spouse who nagged them to kick their other child who is struggling to pay college out of the house. Once the spouse got their way they got their teen sent from the Philippines to Bermuda & now the teen is in private school & I’m sure spouse is working on plans to get the teen’s new foster parent to help with college.
are fathers the only ones that don’t pay child support? Sounds discriminatory to be , even if fathers might, in theory, account for 99% of the problem.
How can the coalition expect a better society in general when they illegally park their vehicles outside their organization off Mount Hill Pembroke. Not only are they parked illegally almost everyday but they park in a dangerous position. Coalition you want to make bermuda a safe place to live start by first parking legally.
Typical of the Bermudian mentality to lump a parking violation with moral violations. Maybe you think they should be put in a prison cell with a rapist or murderer for the way they park? Why don’t you take your complaint up with law enforcement in Bermuda & see how little help you get with it. Once you receive a lack of assistance maybe then you will feel as venerable as some of these children are in the lives they have.
@Tommy Chong… Ms Cooper does park her car illegally as its a yellow line and blind corner.
I didn’t disagree or argue that Ms. Cooper is guilty of traffic violations but this doesn’t have anything to do with fixing injustices towards the young. I’m sure there has never been a lawyer who defended a young client by saying they committed a crime because Ms. Cooper parks on a yellow line. This is the problem in Bermuda taking things that have no parallel & trying to compare them like those who justified an assault on a young man by an adult just because the young man gave the adult lip. If I lived with this logic I would be smashing peoples faces in left, right & centre for cutting me off in traffic, talking rudely to me in stores & a whole heap of other things done to me that don’t physically hurt me but still annoy me.
so….still waiting on point #40….
Waste money.
Point 1-40 also do this.
Are these people paid to make up ideas? And how long did they spend on this list….?
I’d like to live free off the backs of others, if I may! Please add to list…
GIVE ME A BREAK!!! What a load of garbage, my child’s father has owed child support monies since our childs birth 8 years ago and has never ever been incarcerated, the courts continue to make excuses for his deadbeat backside and allow him to take trips etc….. while he no shows constantly for review dates and retains a lawyer to help him. So he can pay a lawyer but not for his child and that is ok! Bermuda needs to stop making excuses for the losers in our society and get tough. The legislation is in placve to prevent them from travelling and also cease their assets but they will not enforce it because all too often they know the father and they assist him *talktothehand* !!!
And so @ha! What do you suggest for fathers who don’t support their children? Would you support mediation between fathers and mothers so that they can learn how to communicate with each other more effectively… especially so that the hardship doesn’t become the child’s?
All of the above complainers probably don’t do a dam thing to protect children yet whine about what should be done…..typical
Whine? Typical? Ummm, no, we probably raise our children properly, punish when needed, nurture, educate and do what we can to turn them into functioning members of society. And, I might add some of us do this on a limited budget with only one parent present. It isn’t easy but if some of us can do it, why can’t we all? That, Navin, is why some of us “whine” as you say. Why is it that some of us can do this yet others need handouts? I never expected the government or the tax payers of Bermuda to be responsible for the upbringing of my children. End of story.
For some of you to do this on a limited budget with only one parent present I bet my bottom dollar someone assisted in some way like watching the kids for free or picking them up from school when you’re working. Not everyone has someone to turn to for a helping hand which even if not monetary is still a handout. You’re a whiner cause you lucked out & had your kids in a different less expensive time & never had to live in another’s shoes who had it worse. This is a new day where everyone is in it for themselves & employers would rather hire two seasonal permit workers over a summer student due to prejudice & that’s just the beginning of the story.
Nanny Pat you do what good parents should do but that is not the case for the children who come in contact with the Coalition for the Protection of Children….hundreds of Parents in Bermuda could and should do more but only care about their own needs and not the kids…..I applaud everything at Sheelagh Cooper tries to do particularly in view of the fact that she does not need to do it……
What more do you expect from a society that has a majority who believes beating the cr@p out of a child is the solution to teaching the child how to deal with life’s struggles in a, “non violent” manner.
If you have children before you are married, and before you have a place to live, and before you have a job, you will be poor. You will not have good housing. You will not have money to spend on cars, clothes, travel, or education. And you will have no-one to blame but yourself. And if you put yourself in that position, most people will be generally unsympathetic.
This is a fallacy. There are those who have children in this situation & get a leg up from parents or others who care. There are also those who are divorced & get laid off with children. I agree with you that there are those who do it to themselves but not all & even in those instances should children be punished for parent’s mistakes. If children are punished for their parent’s imprudence it causes the domino effect that we are seeing the result of at present in Bermuda.
It’s not a fallacy at all. If you have kids without having a home, a job, or a husband, you are asking for trouble. You will be poor. It’s no use at that point blaming everyone else and asking for handouts.
I couldn’t agree more Zombie! If you have kids without having a home, job, husband….you have already started out life WAY behind the starting line. Good luck with the race, but you have an uphill battle that YOU HAVE CHOSEN to take on. If you succeed, then AMEN, and good for you. For the majority in this position though, you have lost the race before you started. Sad but true.
Bermuda College should NOT be free. If you maintain a 3.0 average in high school, then you should be able to get a scholarship and attend free.
Nothing should ever be given free! If you give something away without someone having to work for it, there is no accountability, little or no motivation, higher likelyhood that the student will quit when the going gets tough.
I would say make them pay half, and if they maintain a 3.0 or higher grade with good attendance, let them apply to get the rest back if they can prove they need the assistance.
Bermuda College should not be free period. If you want to devalue something fast make it free.
There should be a plan to convert it to a university. Increasing the cost wouldn’t be a bad thing especially if the university could attract foreigners along with Bermudians. I don’t still don’t understand why millions were spent at the high school level and not at the College/University level.
Nanny Pat, Honest and Bendem you all seem to be missing the point and are focusing on the parents and not the children….through no fault of their own they were born with none of the advantages of most children and they slip through the cracks until the system in Bermuda pushes them out the door with no education and no life skills….we have no tech or trade schools to help prepare them and organizations like the Coalition do the best they can to protect young people despite resistance by the Education system who do not recognize their failures…