SANTIAGO. - Government agencies are concerned with the increase in the number of Haitian children who loiter in the streets of Santiago province, some of which are lured into prostitution, but note that the Dominican Code of the Minor limits their authority.

Children’s Court prosecutor Antia Beato, quoted by newspaper Clave Digital, said the case’s migratory component prevents that agency from proceeding on its own.

She said those Haitian minors are sometimes picked up off the streets, but they never say where they live and who their parents are. “Then, when that happens, the State must assume the responsibility for them, look for shelters, give them education and feeding them and no institution can have them for more than one year, because the law so states."

Beato said gathering those children and separating them from their parents does nothing because the Code of Minors "is not to break up the family, but to integrate it."

In that regard, the official said those minors are properly oriented, because the authorities cannot retain them without their parents’ consent.

Haitian and Dominican organizations have repeatedly denounced an increase in the traffic of Haitian children across the border.