CPFSA Supports Implementation of NPACV

The Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA) has been coordinating and engaging in activities to support the Ministry of Education and Youth’s effort to implement the National Plan of Action for an Integrated Response to Children and Violence (NPACV).

Speaking with JIS News, recently, Director of Children and Family Programmes at the CPFSA, Dr. Warren Thompson, referenced Outcome number two of the NPACV, which speaks to improving the quality and access to services for children who are at risk or who have been exposed to various kinds of victimisation.

He points out that a number of steps were taken to increase the services to these children, and they include the introduction of the 211, a toll-free 24-hour number, in 2021 replacing the 888-PROTECT.

This has resulted in a significant increase in the number of reports of incidents of child abuse reported to the National Children’s Registry (NCR).

Dr. Thompson said with the activation of this three-digit hotline, the staff complement at the NCR was increased, hence an expansion of service to seven days a week and 24 hours a day.

He added that the CPFSA is exploring with a service provider to also have a WhatsApp number link to 211 to complement the hotline.

“Since 211 is a known number and easy to remember, if a child wants to communicate with us, we want them to be able to also send a message via WhatsApp,” he added.

With support from an Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) project, the agency’s Case Management System (CMS), has been expanded to track and monitor reports from the point of receipt, all the way through to the provision of services.

The CMS has now become an important feature of the NCR.

Dr. Thompson explained that when a report is received at the NCR, it is entered into the CMS and then accessed by an investigator who can then make referral to the internal services, and where external services are required the referrals are made.

He also disclosed that the CPFSA has been improving the suite of services to children who have been exposed to violence.

A therapeutic centre was set up in Kingston recently, and the intention is to provide different kinds of therapeutic interventions, such as occupational, speech and language therapies for children who experience trauma and have behavioural manifestations.

Dr. Thompson also alluded to the Repealing of Section 24 of the Child Care and Protection Act in an effort to treat with the root causes of behavioural issues in children and not to criminalise children.

The National Child Diversion Programme, which is designed to keep children out of the criminal justice system, also supports the effort of the NPACV by diverting children to other kinds of support and rehabilitative services when they engage in maladaptive behaviours and commit status offences.

Dr. Thompson pointed out that each parish has an intersectoral Child Diversion Committee, whose members also include representatives from civil society entities that engage in the provision of rehabilitative services at the community level.

“We are recognising that children may engage in or exhibit behavioural problems because of their exposure to violence and other kinds of traumatic events. I think the work that is being done in the legislation and operationalising some of these interventions is reflective of the fact that children will behave a particular way because of the exposure to violence,” he said.

The number of the CPFSA’s mobile mental health units (smiles mobiles) has been increased to three.

According to Dr. Thompson, the aim is to expand the services of the unit to not only help children who are in residential care facilities, but also to be able to reach children at risk in communities before they are placed in State care.

The mobile mental health units provide screening, referral and short-term intervention.

“Our objective is to use this resource to make greater impact in the communities before the children come into State care,” he said.

The Office of the Children’s Advocate (OCA) also operates a mental health support helpline, 888-SAFE SPOT.

Children needing support, for example, if they are feeling depressed or having self-harming ideations, can call the number and speak directly with a counsellor.

The OCA will also make referrals for investigation to the CPFSA from calls received.

In addition to 888-SAFE SPOT there is also a ‘You Report’, mental health chat line run by the Ministry of Health and Wellness, in collaboration with other partners.

Dr. Thompson also cited Outcome three of the NPACV, which looks at strengthening family and community capacities to address issues related to children and violence.

“We are currently developing a child-protection early warning system, which is aimed at leveraging community resources to engage in early detection of children who may be at risk and activate a response through both community-based services and the State mechanisms,” he said.

The re-establishment of child protection committees in each parish is also a priority for the CPFSA.

“We are looking at engaging the community development committees and identifying community hubs that can serve as points of support or assistance for children who may be at risk or victimised,” Dr. Thompson said.

He noted that a child-protection early warning system is a long-term initiative and Phase one is looking at identifying the existing resources and leveraging them to provide a response when children are in need.

“We are also looking at how we can pull administrative data from various ministries, departments and agencies to do things like Predictive Risk Modelling to identify children who may need support before it becomes a child-protection concern,” he added.

Dr. Thompson described the child-protection early warning system as a game-changer in terms of how child protection is done.

“We are trying to do more preventative work and less reactive or intervention when children have already been victimised,” he added.

As part of its strategies to end violence against children, Jamaica joined the Global Partnership, which is committed to the implementation of sustainable development goal (SDG) 16.2, which is focused on ending all forms of violence, abuse and exploitation of children.

By virtue of this global partnership, Jamaica became a Pathfinder country in 2016.

Pathfinder countries are prepared to stand up for children.

They are committed to fast-track efforts to make children safe and ensure that child victims of violence are not marginalised in the global development agenda.