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Belize is a country with a population of almost 300,000 where 44% of the population is under the age of 15 years old.  The laws of Belize only required that a child complete primary school and only 34% continue on to secondary school.
 
While the laws ascribe financial responsibility for the care of the child to the father, they require the mother to maintain and care for the child. In practice, however, it is predominantly the case that it is the mother who ends up with most of the day-to-day fiscal burden of child-rearing where the father is absent, and that it is the responsibility of the mother to take the father to court to enforce his obligation to financially support the child.
 
The unemployment rate is 11% and approximately 39% of the population live below the poverty line.  With more than 25% of all children coming from single parent, women laid families where the mother has a menial job or is unemployed, this produces a strain on the families to meet basic food and education needs of children.
 
Belize has strong laws in place for dealing with the sexual abuse of a child, but there is a lax in the judicial and legal sector in investigating and prosecuting cases of child abuse.  There is a misconception that the Ministry of Human Development prosecutes persons for abuse.  The Ministry secures the safety of the child by removing the child and providing counseling and rehabilitation for the child, but child abuse is a criminal offence and charges must be brought by and investigated by the police.  It is estimated that more than 50% of complaints about child abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect are withdrawn and not prosecuted.
 
In recent years, the number of reports of child abuse have trebled with reports of sexual abuse increasing by more than five-fold.