Member of Parliament for St Michael South Central Marsha Caddle is concerned about the time it takes for the courts to hand down decisions in family matters.
Speaking during debate yesterday in the House of Assembly on the Family Leave Bill, 2025, she said there might be a correlation between what was happening in the family courts and in the criminal courts, even though more emphasis was placed on the latter.
“Notwithstanding that, the court, the judicial system, has their role to play in situations where these matters come before the court. I am not satisfied that when it comes to questions of family law, that the decisions are sufficiently timely. We are talking about, in many cases, about custody matters of children.
“While we focus on criminal matters, while we focus on law reform with respect to criminal matters, I will say this, and the Honourable Member for St Joseph, the Honourable Attorney General, said it in recent remarks in this honourable place, that there is only so far you can go on the law and order side of things when it comes to addressing crime.
Criminal behaviour
“We seem to think that family law and how families function is separate from criminal activity and what is happening with criminal behaviour in this country. They are not separate,” she declared.
“And until we get that right, alongside all of the other measures that are being taken that are necessary, if we do not strengthen the entitlements that children have to be considered and to be included in the way in which the family court functions and its efficiency, we are not doing anything because a lot of what we are trying to solve begins and ends in the
home.”
The Government backbencher was also critical of how the judiciary functions when it comes to family law.
“We talk about integrity and we propose all kinds of codes of conduct and all kinds of things for those of us that sit in this honourable chamber, but those of us who sit in judgment, those of us who are judicial officers, those of us who are judges, those of us who have to make decisions that affect family, also have to be held to a standard of performance.
“And I am not satisfied that that standard of performance has been established and is being upheld with respect to family law matters,” she said.
In relation to how registration of births were conducted for children born out of wedlock, Caddle called for the system to be changed.
“So, this question of having to walk to the court and hold up the baby, like ‘this is Lion King’, and say, ‘here is the baby, and here is the father’. It’s almost like you bring the father by the ears to come and say, ‘Look, this is him here’. A woman who is married doesn’t have to do that; she doesn’t have to suffer that. ”
She suggested that fathers could be identified at the polyclinic during antenatal care or at the hospital when the baby is born.
In terms of custody matters, Caddle said: “I am not satisfied that we are giving children their best shot at knowing who their parents are, getting the full benefit of relationships with both parents, with both sides of the family . . . .” (MB)
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