Second Round of Public Consultations on Families Bill Held in Corozal

The second round of public consultations on the Families Bill, 2025, took place today in Corozal Town, as the government continues to seek public input on the proposed legislation. This follows the first round of consultations held previously in Belize City.  The comprehensive Families Bill is looking to consolidate several existing laws, including the Family Courts Act, the Families and Children’s Act, and the Married Persons Protection Act. According to Minister of Human Development, Family Support & Gender Affairs, Thea Garcia-Ramirez, the bill is a transformative step to strengthen support systems for families, children, and the elderly.  Love News spoke with Ixchel Poot of the National Council of Ageing who spoke on today’s consultations.

 Ixchel Poot,  National Council of Ageing:  “One of the important components of the family bill is for the very first time we are introducing legal protection for older persons in our country,  as anybody 60 plus. And so what we’re doing in these consultations is we’re meeting with the older persons in their community. We have two lawyers with us from the Attorney General’s ministry who are explaining  what is covered in the bill, what it means when the bill comes into place, and allowing the older persons to ask questions, voice their opinions, share their concerns about the new legislation that impacts them. One of the main things that we keep hearing both in Belmopan where we were yesterday and today in Corozal is the lack of priority service for older persons and the challenges that older people have when they’re trying to access everyday services. So it’s things like standing for extremely long times at the bank to pay bills, not having priority seating on public transportation. Having trouble accessing public transportation. Those are some of the things that we see recurring. We’ve also heard older persons talk about challenges that they’re facing in doing certain activities. Yesterday two of our participants spoke about signing forms for their pension and having the forms completely changed when they get there and the forms that they’re supposed to be using they can’t read. So, you know, today one of the gentlemen shared having a disability and standing in a line for almost 30 minutes to receive service and what that meant for his health and well-being and his balance. So those are some of the challenges among other wider concerns about elder abuse, abandonment of older persons and challenges that they keep facing.”

The proposed bill includes key provisions such as formalizing a child’s right to counseling and allowing single men to adopt female children, a move that challenges traditional legal norms. It also outlines new procedures for guardianship, custody, and child maintenance.  The National Commission for Families and Children (NCFC) is coordinating the consultation process. The government has made it clear that public participation is vital to the legislative process.