CHILDREN’S RIGHTS


taken on a case by case basis; (iii) initiates contact between clients and other support services; (iv) prepares reports on findings for the Courts; and (v) guides the Courts by making recommendations that are in keeping with the best interests of the child.


7) The CDA helps to


safeguard against child neglect and ensure child protection via the Police Lock-Up Surveillance programme by investigating whether children have been jailed and the conditions of their imprisonment. The programme also offers counseling, bail arrangements and facilitates the release to parents or guardians and relocations to places of safety where possible.


8) Lastly, the CDA also monitors, inspects and regulates Residential Child Care facilities, public and private, to ensure adherence to acceptable standards of child care and protection.


The preventative measures are wide-ranging and target all aspects of child abuse. General measures include:


of child abuse directly to the Office of the Children’s Registry. Importantly, the application protects reporters and does not save or keep information entered in the report.


5) The Child Abuse Hotline, which facilitates access to immediate help, is a vital enforcement measure which can be used by the victims or community members who have a duty to report occurring or suspected child abuse. 6) The CDA’s intake, investigation and court services are crucial in ensuring compliance and enforcement. The CDA investigates reports of child abuse, neglect and abandonment and takes appropriate action to ensure the child’s safety. More specifically, it (i) gathers information; (ii) determines the steps to be


i) The Child’s Registry, created under the CCPA, which receives, reviews and refers child abuse reports. The reports not only aid enforcement but are also used to guide policy and decision-making about child protection. ii) The Sex Offenders Registry (SOR) is a newly installed data system managed and operated by the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) under the remit of the SOA, which demands that all persons convicted of specified offences including rape, abduction and the sale or trafficking of persons be registered in the SOR. I anticipate that the registry will protect children from sexual predators as we will be able to identify them and deter re-offenders. If there are re-offenders the registry will make it easier to find and punish them. More specific programmes


are aimed at families and children. They involve public awareness, rehabilitation, monitoring, research and data collection. Aside from the CISOCA awareness and education campaign, the CDA offers a community and school outreach public education programme on child rights, child abuse and good parenting within the context of the CCPA. Notable is that in July 2012, the agency embarked upon an ‘Every Child is My Child’ campaign geared toward engaging the community in child welfare, care and protection. In tandem with the CDA, the OCR hosts community programs which, through the help of media houses, disseminate information on child abuse. The programs also seek to relate to children through school tours addressing named schools on matters of missing children, reporting and practical safety tips for children to help safeguard their own protection.


Recognizing the pertinence of the parents’ role in preventing child abuse, the Victim Support Division also provides information to parents via the ‘The Parents Place’, a ‘one-stop-shop’ information centre available in or near every major community. The centre aims to improve parenting skills and foster better parent-child relationships that will cultivate child care and protection. The centre provides a comfortable place for parents, guardians and other caregivers seeking not only general information but also mentoring support from other parents, specific diagnostic and therapeutic services and referrals to workshops and education courses on up-to-date and positive child-rearing practices. The rehabilitative and support programs include the CDA’s Children and Family Support Unit and Multi-Agency Partnership Programme which help to keep children out of


state care through counseling and other interventions available to families and abuse victims and the Victim Support Division ( VSD) Re-socialization projects. The CDA, for example, has implemented the Living in Family Environment Project as an alternative to placing children into residential care facilities. It involves foster care, family re-integration, and adoption and supervision orders.


The VSD focuses on children who have been or are likely to be affected by violence and abuse. For example, the cultural Re-socialization Intervention Project is ‘a therapeutic intervention for “at-risk” and hurting children aged 6 – 18 years from various inner- city communities. It provides therapeutic healing for children through the use of cultural re-sensitization, cognitive restructuring and behaviour modification.’ The children are taken out of their environment and placed in a free and healthy atmosphere where they learn coping skills to overcome trauma, self-determination and respect and positive regard for authority.


A similar and equally


important program is the Special Intervention Project for Schools (SIPS). It emphasizes the provision of therapy to children in schools who are identified as being emotionally disturbed and suffering from symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress and Depression.


Thus looking forward, our success in tackling the issue of child abuse, maltreatment and child neglect is hinged on the purposeful involvement of not only government and its institutions but also communities, churches, schools and the private sector. Child care and protection is the duty of every Jamaican citizen.


The Parliamentarian | 2015: Issue Two | 85


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