2012 has seen more of Bermuda’s children and their families sink further below the poverty line. With more parents unemployed and more still underemployed, the stresses faced have deeply impacted the well-being of the most vulnerable members of our community. This economic situation is made worse by the continued threat of violence in the neighbourhoods where most of these children live. With these dual issues of poverty and safety at the forefront, the Coalition for the Protection of Children presents its list of recommendations for all political candidates:Education and youth development1. A significant portion of the young men involved in gang related or violent activity have been suspended or expelled from the mainstream education system. Many of those young men begin exhibiting problematic behaviour from a very early age. Early intervention is essential, coupled with considerably more learning support, behaviour management, counselling and outreach programmes to embrace struggling parents.We need to increase the focus on the early identification of children who display the propensity for antisocial behaviour and provide outreach assistance to the parents of those children. This should include parenting classes, housing and financial assistance and family to family mentoring programmes. Identify and test children who show signs of learning difficulties in the first two to three years of school and provide intervention and learning support necessary to help them keep pace with their peers.2. Stop expelling students in their early teens and provide therapeutic intervention for students with psychological or behavioural problems. The Department of Education needs to honour its legal obligation to provide an appropriate educational setting for children up to school leaving age.3. Establish an alternative school for at risk or troubled youth with a focus on the talents and gifts of these young people. The purpose of this is not punishment but to provide a stable, nourishing, safe and drug free environment that has strong programmes including music, the arts and a range of athletic pursuits.4. Criminal behaviour, gang related relationships, and illicit drug use all begin in middle school and it is critical that strong and consistent prevention and intervention be firmly in place at this stage. This will require doubling counselling resources as well as much more intense and widespread conflict resolution training in middle schools.5. Non-academic students, particularly young boys, should have the option of technical training beginning as early as middle school. It is inexcusable that we are still importing car and motorcycle mechanics, many types of skilled construction workers, body and repair workers and the like.6. Reinstitute free tuition for the Bermuda College for those who cannot afford the cost, including extra costs like books in order to ensure individuals who are qualified to receive further education can do so.Adult education7. Individuals should be encouraged and supported to develop their skills in order to increase their ability to earn a better wage through improved vocational training. Financial assistance for those wishing to return to school is essential.Jobs, wages and cost of living8. In recognition of the direct link between the growing income inequity and violent and predatory crime, steps must be taken to address the extreme poverty in the bottom quartile of the income scale. This means taking a serious look at what would be a living wage for people in unskilled or semi-skilled sectors of the community. This involves the establishment of wage guidelines which reflect the actual cost of living for a family supporting a child or children.9. Reduce the mandatory wage deductions for individuals at the lowest end of the income scale.10. Increase the duty on alcohol, cigarettes and luxury items.11. Cap the interest and associated fees that credit collection firms are allowed to charge.Housing12. Recognise that adequate, affordable housing is a basic human right. Increase the use of rent-geared-to-income housing and stop the practice of evicting families from BHC properties because they have fallen behind on their rent due to their inability to afford that rent.Family Support13. Establish a task force to determine how the social services agencies (including the Department of Financial Assistance, the Bermuda Housing Corporation. The Department of Child and Family Services and the Cross Ministry Intervention Team) can operate more cooperatively and more efficiently with one another. These agencies should all be located in the same ministry.14. Institute Child Protection Mediation and Family Group Conferencing which requires all stakeholders to engage in a problem-solving process before children are removed from a home or before major decisions are made by the courts about a child’s welfare or placement.15. Stop placing children in foster care solely because a parent is homeless or poor. Use the funds spent on foster care to provide financial support and keep the family intact. It is no surprise that a significant portion of prison inmates spent their childhood moving from one foster home to another.16. Ensure parents whose children are threatened to be taken into care have the right to legal representation and do not appear in court without such representation17. Prevent fathers who refuse to pay child support from re-licensing vehicles, travelling abroad or renewing passports.18. Enforce a more humane approach towards the rules and regulations at the Bermuda Housing Corporation’s emergency housing facility Gulfstream, which would include:a. Removing the stipulation that women are not allowed to babysit each other’s children.b. Removing the rule that BHC staff can enter residents’ rooms at any time and without notice as they are paying tenants who have a right to privacy and at least 24 hours notice for inspection.19. Expand food assistance programmes such as the Coalition for the Protection of Children’s breakfast programme. These programmes must be supported by Government. Increasingly, children are arriving at school without breakfast or sometimes even lunch. This contributes to students’ difficulty with learning as children must have sufficient diets in order to participate productively in school.Prison Reform20. Expand drug and alcohol treatment programmes in both the Co-Ed and Westgate facilities sufficiently to service the 85 percent who require it.21. Stop the practice of automatically releasing violent offenders after ⅔rds of their sentence. This practice allows dangerous offenders to avoid rehabilitation programmes and return to the community without the benefit of parole supervision.22. Expand the violent offender and anger management programmes in the prisons using properly trained psychologists to deliver these programmes. These programs should be made mandatory before consideration is given for parole.23. Mandate post-release violent and sexual offender treatment programmes as part of parole stipulations for offenders who require continued treatment.24. Reopen the Transitional Living Centre to ensure a full complement of treatment staff in the prisons.Law enforcement and the judiciary25. Stop the practice of incarcerating individuals who cannot pay off debts. This has no place in a civilised society.26. Make greater use of CCTV cameras in crime prone areas.27. Put greater focus on the training and oversight of the police and provide adequate resources for the Police Complaints Commission.28. Extend witness protection and make more use of the United Kingdom as a safe haven for those who testify or help the police.29. Develop victim assistance programmes to address the emotional, psychological, and economic issues presented by their victimisation and reverse the decision to cut funding for the Victim Compensation Programme.30. Review the juvenile justice system to assess effectiveness with a view toward implementing restorative justice practices.We believe that if Government follows this 30 point plan, we will see a substantial improvement in the lives of our most vulnerable families. As a consequence, we will all live in a healthier and safer community.Sheelagh Cooper is chair of the Coalition for the Protection of Children