For us in the Caribbean, there is a tendency to cover up sex crimes committed against children by their relatives. When the offence is made known, the first call is seldom to the police but to other relatives.
This is often done to strategize how to preserve the family's reputation (albeit at the expense of the child's mental and physical health), may be motivated by a false sense of protection to spare the child the shame of the offence being made public, or to confer some benefits upon the adults involved.
In Trinidad and Tobago, the trend has been changing due in part to the passage of child protection laws which punish persons who fail to report such crimes, the creation of a dedicated Children's Authority and a Police Child Protection Unit, widespread awareness campaigns in real life and on social media, and the willingness of children to report to teachers, other adults and even peers.
However, the trend to call a family meeting before or in place of the Police still exists in some parts of the country and elsewhere in the region.
The reasons why mothers fail to act in the face of stepfathers sexually abusing their girl or boy children are numerous: past sexual trauma, a history of not being believed as children, fear of loss of financial support from the perpetrators, and so on.
Even as the police need to become involved in such cases, so too must mental and behavioural health professionals who can assist the current and past victims and work with the perpetrators.
Having a justice system which is so overburdened as to be incapable of guaranteeing timely and prolonged care for all concerned means that a segment of the population may still hesitate to report these abuses to the authorities.
Nonetheless, we know the science proves that child sexual abuse is a traumatic event in childhood and a catalyst for other risks in childhood, greater cumulative adversities, and multiple health risks in adulthood leading to a shortened life span.
Hence we must not lose hope, but must press in to see cultural shifts which are a needed to keep our children safe and our adults held accountable for their actions.
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