NATIONAL CHILD PROTECTION AUTHORITY FACES JOBS SABOTAGE THREAT

The National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) said yesterday that the Probation Department has threatened to sabotage the jobs of some 100 newly recruited Divisional and Psychosocial Officers who are supposed to carry out investigations on calls made to the NCPA via 1929 hotline.

A senior source of the NCPA said until recently the NCPA had only two Divisional and Psychosocial Officers in each district which made it difficult to investigate and

Threats were made by the Child Rights Promo- tion Officers of the Probation Department who felt their duties overlapped those of NCPA officials. But, their functions are separate from the Probation Department as the NCPA focuses on child abuse and negligence prevention related matters

monitor over 3,000 complaints made via hotline each month.“We had only 50 field officers, but now we have more than 150 and we intend to recruit another 200 officers. But some officials at the Probation Department have been creating problems for us and if we are unable to recruit more, we will not be able to function properly or investigate the complaints received via our hotline,” the source said.

The source alleged that the threats were made by the Child Rights Promotion Officers of the Probation Department who felt their duties overlapped those of NCPA officials. However, their functions were separate from the Probation Department as the NCPA focused on child abuse and negligence prevention related matters. NCPA Chairperson Anoma Dissanayake said 1929 hotline had received 6,524 calls last month of which 1,621 calls were made by residents in the Northern and Eastern Provinces.

Meanwhile Probation Commissioner Yamuna Perera said she was unaware of the allegation but said she would check with the department’s Child Rights Promotion Officers with regard to the complaint.