Government’s Family Leave Bill is being positioned as a critical step in strengthening Barbadian families and, by extension, the nation’s social fabric. Minister of People Empowerment Kirk Humphrey, speaking in the House of Assembly on Tuesday, said the legislation would give parents – particularly fathers – more opportunity to play a consistent role in their children’s lives.
Humphrey located the measure within a broader effort to rebuild family structures, arguing that no society can be strong if families are fractured.
“When families are strong, our children are strong. And when our children are strong, our nation is strong,” he said. The Bill, he added, would “give families the space, the security, and the protection they need to do that most critical work at the most critical time in a child’s life”.
The minister praised the work of Minister of Labour Colin Jordan, describing the Bill as part of a record of “transformative” policies emerging from Ministry. He cited earlier measures such as amendments to the National Insurance and Social Security Act, anti-discrimination provisions in employment law, minimum wage legislation, and the Labour Clauses (Concessions) Act, crediting them with significantly modernising the labour framework.
Humphrey spoke about his own upbringing, recalling that in his immediate childhood community “not one” of his friends lived with their father. While acknowledging that some who grew up in similar circumstances may appear to have fared well, he said such absences leave lasting scars. The country, he argued, has been evolving organically toward greater paternal involvement, but this legislation would formalise and protect that trend.
He recounted a recent conversation in his constituency with a young father who was proud to witness his baby smile for the first time but had to leave for work to pour concrete. Humphrey said he felt for such men who want to be present but faced economic pressures that keep them away.
“We have seen a deliberate effort by men to play a greater role in their child’s life,” he said, noting that in earlier decades such scenes were rare.
The minister also referenced Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley’s account of how having access to her father influenced her life. He stressed that the Bill was not about enforcing traditional family structures, but ensuring children have the chance to grow up in loving and stable environments, whether or not parents live together.
“If you are not present, you cannot extend love,” he said, warning that absence deprive children of vital emotional bonds.
Humphrey linked the legislation to wider national concerns, including crime prevention and social capital building. He argued that the erosion of once-reliable institutions such as the family, church and school has left the state with a greater responsibility to fill the gap. By enabling parents to be part of “the village” that raises a child, the Bill could help instil values and behaviours that once flowed naturally through community life, he said.
With Barbados facing a declining birth rate, the minister said safeguarding the well-being of the children who remained is paramount.
“The ones that are left, we have to do everything to safeguard them,” he said.
Family Leave Bill as a “return to ourselves” and “to that which is entirely and distinctly Barbadian,” Humphrey urged colleagues to view it not just as a piece of labour legislation, but as an investment in the country’s future. “Generations will look back on this Parliament and ask if we wasted our time while we were here,” he said. “This Bill says we did not.”
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