Children and Young Persons Act

"When it boils down to deciding whom to believe - the accused or the victim - the victim usually loses because he or she may be too traumatised to recount accurately the experiences in court." - Freeing children trapped in hells of perversity; [2008] 17 Feb_ST; Radha Basu, Community Correspondent

I sat through eyes wide opened, mind totally fresh at today's course held at the Attorney General Chambers - "Child Protection and the Law". It was my first taste up close & personal brushing "against" the law. We had the privilege of having 3 DPPs seeing us through the various Sections of the law, specially pertaining to those related closely to Child Protection & especially those related to rape & molest. We had the whole process (when an incident was reported to the closure of the case) laid out to us.

I felt horrid. The thought of the process gives me goosebumps. Just the thought of any child having to go through that gives me great discomfort. Just the thought of the child having to be cross-examined, having to go through guilt, having to feel that he/she's the black sheep of the family, having to go through the system & perpetrator going scot-free due to the lack of evidence literally made me squirm in my seat.

At the end of the course, I thought to myself - It really does take only ONE adult to mess up the life of a child. It takes a whole troop of adults to TRY to make things better. Let me not be that one that messes.