A lack of coordinated disaster response could leave vulnerable young people facing greater harm, Minister of Home Affairs Gregory Nicholls has warned, urging closer collaboration among agencies responsible for their care.

Speaking during the opening of a two-day workshop hosted by the Caribbean Association of Probation and Parole and the Barbados Probation Service entitled ‘Rooted in Resilience, United in Strength: Trauma-Informed Practice and Crisis Preparedness for Juvenile Justice Practitioners’, he warned that disjointed response systems would leave young people within the justice and social services exposed to even greater harm.

Many of these young people carried the burdens of trauma, abuse, loss, instability and exposure to violence, leaving them particularly susceptible during emergencies, he said.