Editorial | Safeguarding children from abuse

There is no gainsaying that children and adolescents in Jamaica live under significant stress, often existing in the proximity of violence and other forms of abuse –  or being the victims of it. 

Statistics, from two years back, point to some improvement. Jamaica’s Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA) reported that it received 13,531 reports for the period 2023-24, of which 6,314 were distress calls to the child abuse reporting helpline, 211. In comparison, in the 13-month period between January 2019 and December 2020, forty-three thousand three hundred and twelve incidents of child abuse were recorded by the agency – an astonishing average of 60 reports a day.

The consequences of this exposure, as Olga Isaza, the representative in Jamaica for the UN’s children’s organisation, UNICEF, has noted, include behavioural problems; negative effects on learning; and long-term mental-health issues. 

Moreover, violence against children often sows the seeds for future cycles of violence, with today’s child victims being further victimised as adults or themselves becoming the perpetrators of violence. 

However, direct acts of violence, or exposure thereto, are not the only factors that undermine the well-being of children. Other disruptive developments in the social environment do, too.  And Jamaica’s children have, in recent years, confronted more than their fair share of these.

For instance, the island was barely out of the trauma of the COVID-19 pandemic, which kept children out of classrooms for two years, while affecting the livelihoods of many of their parents, when Hurricane Beryl hit in 2024, causing significant disruption in people’s lives.   It was little more than a year later when Jamaica was ravaged by off-the-charts Hurricane Melissa, which destroyed tens of thousands of homes as well as public and private infrastructure, costing the country over 57 per cent of its GDP.  Thousands of people remain displaced or are forced to live rough.  

Indeed, in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Melissa, more than 284,000 children were in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.

Further, as Ms Isaza noted in an article in this newspaper, about 200 schools have been severely affected by disruptions. Children have been forced into temporary arrangements such as rotating schedules and makeshift classrooms. 

Such instability disrupts learning, adding to the stress on children who are already coping with uncertain home environments.

This is part of the backdrop against which Jamaica marks May as Child Month and a context for policymakers to address issues affecting this vulnerable group. The focus is on the mental health of children during this year’s observance of Child Month.

In this respect, the health ministry’s recent reiteration of its emphasis on policies and programmes to support children’s mental health, including mental health literacy programmes in schools, is welcome.

Nurse Carol Baker Burke, the ministry’s mental health coordinator, was correct when, at a church service to launch Mental Health Month, she said: “There is no good health without mental health. By investing in the mental well-being of our children today, we are laying the foundation for a healthier, stronger Jamaica tomorrow.” 

But declarations won’t, by themselves, solve the problems.  They have to be followed by action, buttressed with appropriate levels of resources - human and financial. Indeed, a report by the Caribbean Policy Research Institute (CAPRI) disclosed that there is only 30 per cent of the requisite clinical staff needed in child guidance clinics, the principal child mental health service provider, to meet current demand.

Access to the available support is uneven, with the greatest shortage being in rural and semi-urban communities.

Even with limited resources, though, Jamaica can do better. This requires:

•  stronger enforcement of child protection laws.
• better coordination between agencies. 
• greater investment in prevention rather than reactive measures. 
• That social policy address root causes – poverty, family stress, and community violence.

The right frameworks need to be put in place, and it must be ensured that they work as intended.