CDA Stages Child Protection Walk in Morant Bay

The Child Development Agency (CDA) will stage a sensitisation ‘Walk Thru’ in Morant Bay tomorrow (April 17), to draw attention to the problem of child abuse and how residents can play their part in protecting children.

The event, slated to get underway at 10:00 a.m., is the second to be staged in St. Thomas by the CDA, following a similar walk-through in Yallahs in March.

Regional Director for the CDA’s South East Region, Robert Williams, told JIS News that the event is aimed at educating community members about the impacts of child abuse, and the importance of child protection.

He said officials from the agency will be walking throughout the town and making stops in the Morant Bay Park and communities such as Church Corner and Bamboo River.

“We will be walking through and talking to people on the street corners and in the communities. We will be making some calls to a few schools in the parish and we will be seeking to talk to young people and young men, in particular,” he informed.

Mr. Williams said it is important to educate community members in light of the recent violent attacks on children and incidents that have been taking place in the parish.

“Based on our work on the ground, we realise that St. Thomas is a parish that needs some attention, in terms of childcare issues. We want to infiltrate the communities in and around Morant Bay because we realise that they need the information,” he told JIS News.

The Regional Director said that engaging persons on the streets is one of the strategies being used to reach more people, as sometimes persons find it difficult to attend meetings.

“We have town hall meetings but sometimes they do not come, so we want to go into their space, wherever they are and say to them that you must also be involved in child protection ,” he pointed out.

“We want to say to parents, start supervising your children more closely. We want to say that it is important that everybody plays a part in child protection. We want to say to the men that there are implications for having sexual relations with a person less than 16 years old,” he continued.

The walk thru’ will be led by a team from the CDA and the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) and will include Chief Executive Officer of the CDA, Rosalee Gage-Grey; Councillor for Morant Bay, Rohan Bryan; Director of Children and Family Programmes, CDA, Audrey Budhi, social workers and other stakeholders.

Other sensitisation sessions are being planned for communities in Kingston and St. Catherine during Child Month in May.