In a developing country like Belize where poverty and the accompanying social ills are widespread, social work is one of the most challenging careers. And for those social workers coping with all that, plus scarce resources, the job can often be overwhelming. And when that happens, who’s there to counsel and motivate the social worker? And so today, those so called human service officers got back to basics. It’s an effort to motivate and remind them what is expected through the values and ethics of social work practises.
The two day refresher course is hosted by the Ministry of Human Development in partnership with the family preservation institute of New Mexico State University and UNICEF. Chief Executive Officer Judith Alpuche told us that the participants are also being equipped with improved methods to deal with families at risk and children who have experienced trauma and loss.
Judith Alpuche, CEO – Ministry of Human Development
“How children experience trauma and what means vis a vie how you work with children. So there’s all this research coming out on brain development and how trauma impacts children, especially those who have experienced trauma at a very early age and what that means for social workers. So it’s an opportunity for that kind of learning to happen for us to be in touch with the new trends in the field so that we can improve our practice and by extension improve the quality of care that we provide for families.
This is one hundred percent of our technical staff being trained so it is everybody, all the social workers from the three departments. From the Department of Human Services, Community Rehabilitation, and from Women’s Department. So you have social workers here that are dealing with issues of child abuse and neglect, that deal with family welfare issues, that deal with juvenile justice issues, that deal with domestic violence, women in domestic violence situations and by extension children in domestic violence situations. So it is the entire gamut of the services that we provide that we are trying to ensure that our social workers have the cutting edge information to be able to deliver quality services,”
And the need to improve such social work services has been brought into sharper focus following the arrest of Elijah Miller earlier this week. Miller has been charged with the murder of his two year old stepson, Ezekiel Tejeda who died due to multiple bruises and trauma to his internal organs after he was brutalised last Friday afternoon at the family’s home in Tower
Hill Village. A post mortem conducted on the body of young Ezekiel Tejeda revealed that the child died from to lung failure as a result of the blows to the toddlers’ abdomen.
And while the stepfather did the physical abuse the mother Felecia Tejeda who is now six months pregnant with Elijah Miller’s child has not been charged. The question now being asked is if Felecia Tejeda should have also been held responsible for her son’s death? Today we asked the Chief Executive Officer in the Ministry of Human Development Judith Alpuche for her take on the case.
Judith Alpuche,
“It is very difficult to have a blanket statement about the mother. I think you really do have to look into the circumstances, if she was being neglectful etc. But you know who, and this woman from my understanding of what the media is providing, information provided by the media, is that she is a victim of domestic violence herself and I think that is a stark example of what happens with families that are experiencing domestic violence, how the adult themselves may be not empowered to do what they do of protecting their children etc. So to me this in a very harsh, it spots a very harsh light on why we have
to deal with the issues of gender based violence and just the extreme of what can happen to children in those circumstances. And I hope it is a wakeup call for people in those situations to understand that it is not only impacting them as adults but it can have tragic circumstances for their children and really encourage them to reach out and seek the help that they need to be able to come out of that situation. So it is very difficult for me to stand here and say charges should be levied against the mother. I think we really do need to look at the circumstances and be very mindful of the fact that she herself is a victim it seems.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
But I mean domestic violence has been around for quite some time. There is a lot that’s being done to give assistance to these women who live under these terrible conditions. But when you something happening like this and its been happening over a long period of time and the mother does have knowledge or very strong suspicion of it occurring, do you believe that there needs to be legislation in place where not only the person really guilty of inflicting the physical abuse be brought to justice but the child’s mom or dad as well who has been aware of what’s been occurring inside the home, whether or not that individual is a victim of domestic violence.
Judith Alpuche,
“I think we would have to establish whether or not that person was negligent in their duty and to me if you’re negligent, then by all means, we do have allowances for people to be accessories to various crimes etc. and so forth. Abetment to certain crimes is a provision under the law but it really, I don’t feel like I have sufficient information about this case to kind of make that judgement because in this case, and in any case like this where it’s a gender based violence situation, I think a thorough investigation and psychological assessment needs to be done.”
To establish that it was murder, the prosecution must demonstrate that there was intent to kill – which is required for a murder charge. According to investigators, the charge was based on advice given by the director of public prosecutions after the case file was reviewed.
