United Nations child rights expert, Faith Marshall-Harris has called for renewed focus on positive community parenting in Barbados.
Delivering the featured address at Wednesday’s opening session of the National Parenting Seminar, hosted by the Community Development Department at the Hilton Barbados Resort, Marshall-Harris said young people on the island faced increasing exposure to harmful social influences.
The seminar brought together key stakeholders to help shape a structured framework for community parenting and family-strengthening workshops, which the Ministry plans to roll out across the island from May 2026.
In her address, Marshall-Harris warned that so-called “block culture” and other negative community influences are having a powerful and troubling impact on school-aged children.
“I conducted a camp for 40 at-risk teenagers… who were all on the cusp of leaving school. They all told me, with only one exception, that their ambition was to go on the block, to either sell drugs or be part of the operation,” she said.
According to Marshall-Harris, the teenagers described in candid terms how the “block” provided not only income, but a sense of structure and belonging.
“They said they saw no need to find a job because the boys on the block would provide daily sustenance…and if they wanted more money they would be given a piece to do a job for the gang,” she added.
Marshall-Harris said these realities underscored the role communities play in shaping young people, stressing that responsibility cannot be placed solely on parents within the home.
“This is why I say that was the parenting they had received by way of the community… we can’t blame everything on the parents at home,” she said, noting that children are heavily influenced by what they encounter outside their households.
Marshall-Harris cautioned that antisocial behaviour among youth is not spontaneous, but cultivated over time through neglect or negative reinforcement.
“The 16 or 17-year-old terrorising the neighbourhood with a gun was created from either our neglect or cultivation in the community… the cultivation may not have been from the father or mother, it may be from the block,” she said, adding, “this is really where I have great fears.”
Turning to another area of concern, the child rights expert addressed what she described as growing misconceptions about children’s rights in Barbados.
She pushed back against the view that prioritising children’s rights undermines the rights of other groups, particularly the elderly.
“There seems to be a view that supporting children’s rights automatically nullifies the rights of others…but there always has to be a balancing of rights,” she said.
Marshall-Harris explained that while both children and the elderly can be vulnerable, their circumstances differ significantly.
“The elderly can be vulnerable…but they’re not dependent by definition, because they have agencies. Children, on the other hand, are dependent from birth… they cannot necessarily provide for their own shelter… that is their reality,” she said.
She emphasised that all vulnerable groups require care and protection, but cautioned against framing the issue as a competition.
“All vulnerable persons demand our attention… and neither group should supersede the other,” she stated.
Marshall-Harris also rejected claims that an increased focus on children’s rights is contributing to indiscipline and violence among young people.
“I’ve even heard it expressed that all this emphasis on children’s rights is causing our children to become violent. Now I’m going to say that that notion is nonsense,” she said.
Instead, she argued that the responsibility lies with adults to properly guide children in understanding both their rights and their obligations to others.
“It is what we, the adults, teach children about their rights and the respect for other persons’ rights that will make a difference,” Marshall-Harris added.
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