In Trinidad and Tobago there have been over 13 hundred cases of child abuse reported to the Children’s Authority. The authority yesterday presented what could be considered alarming statistics on child abuse in this country over the last year.

Director Sharifa Ali-Abdullah says 5,500 sexual abuse, neglect, physical abuse and lack of care and guardianship cases have been reported to the authority in the last 12 months. She says from May 18th, last year to February 17^th this year, the authority had initially reported 4,158 cases.

However, between February 18th to yesterday there were an additional 1,342 cases of abuse reported. Mrs. Ali Abdullah says of the 1,000 cases of sexual abuse reported, 142 children were in sexual relationships with adult men.

61 of the children became pregnant or have had a child. The director of the authority was speaking at a workshop for media practitioners in Port of Spain yesterday. She said 500 of the 5,500 reports were emergency cases.

According to Mrs. Ali-Abdullah 120 of the children have been removed from the home and put into foster care, children’s homes and other places of safety, but there are challenges there too.

The authority is also treating with 180 children whose parents were victims of crime, or accused of committed criminal offences, while just under 200 child offenders were referred to them — two of which were offences for robbery and possession of marijuana.

Mrs. Ali-Abdullah said in the first month of the authority’s operation there were 500 cases of abuse reported. She said since then the count has not stopped.