The National Plan of Action for an Integrated Response to Children and Violence (NPACV), which was launched in 2019, is part of Jamaica’s response to its commitment made to the Global Partnership to end violence against children and will be implemented over a five-year period. This was emphasised by Chief Executive Officer of the Child Protection and Family Services Agency...

Head of the Centre for the Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse (CISOCA), Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Charmaine Shand, is calling on parents and guardians to be more vigilant in monitoring their children’s use of the online space in order to prevent them from falling victim to predators. SSP Shand, who was addressing the virtual launch of the...

Children’s Officer assigned to the Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA), Carolyn Beckford, is reminding Jamaicans that they have a responsibility under the Child Care and Protection Act to report known and suspected cases of child abuse. “Children are entitled to protection from abuse, neglect and harm,” Ms. Beckford said at a Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) Medical Services Branch...

The Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA) is calling on parents, guardians and caregivers to discipline children positively and to do so with love. Reports coming out of the National Children’s Registry (NCR) showed a 22 per cent increase in child-abuse incidents over the December 2020 to January 2021 period. Senior Registration Officer at the CPFSA’s National Children’s Registry,...

The Early Childhood Commission has noted with deep concern a report in yesterday's Gleaner that a child in a day care centre was subjected to corporal punishment. The Commission is reminding operators that corporal punishment is not to be inflicted on a child in an Early Childhood Institution as outlined in the Early Childhood Act 2005 (Section 16 (1)). An Early Childhood...

Applications are now being accepted from high school students or recent graduates ages 16-18 years old, to represent Jamaica at the 2021 Virtual National Youth Science Camp (NYSCamp). Over 100 students from the United States and select countries will attend the all-expenses-paid virtual program, to be held June 28 through July 21, 2021. Hosted in Monongahela National Forest in West...

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Security, Hon. Dr. Horace Chang, has welcomed the launch of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Positive Pathways Activity in Jamaica. It will run for five years and span several communities across five parishes. The $15-million programme seeks to prevent youth involvement in crime and violence by building community, family, and...