CPFSA Cares for Thousands of Children

The Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA) has approximately 4,544 children in its care.

Governed by the Child Care and Protection Act (CCPA), the Agency is responsible for children in foster care, children’s homes and places of safety, under supervision order directed by the Courts, and in family integration.

The scope of the CPFSA’s mandate includes but is not limited to psychological and mental health support for children in their care; police lock-up surveillance; child and family support services; court services; first-responder programme; Central Authority for matters relating to civil abduction; and the Ananda Alert System, which is Jamaica’s national response to missing children.

The Jamaica Central Authority is a unit/department that is designated under the Children (Guardianship and Custody) (Amendment) Act, 2017. Through this Act, the CPFSA is thus selected as the Jamaica Central Authority.

The Authority focuses on executing administrative and legal responsibilities of the abduction of children by either parent of the child. They focus on abduction as a civil matter where a parent takes the child to another country without the consent of the other parent, which deems it “abduction”.

In this case, Central Authority works with the parent who is seen as “the left behind parent” to gain access to the child legally.

A part of the CPFSA’s strategic priorities in reforming childcare is the de-institutionalisation of children in need of care.

Director of the Child and Family Services programme at the CPFSA, Dr. Warren Thompson, tells JIS News that the entity is working on reforming the quality of care provided to children at risk.

“Research globally has shown that children thrive and do better when they are in family-based placements. Locally, anecdotal evidence from our work with children suggests that when the children are in foster care or in their own homes, they tend to do better generally than those who spend most of their time in institutions,” he points out.

This, he says, is evident in the results from the Primary Exit Profile (PEP) and the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations.

“We have been strengthening the Agency’s policy and governance framework to support the maintenance of children in families, in keeping with the United Nations Alternative Care guidelines. It speaks to when the removal from home is being done, it must be because it is absolutely necessary, and the place to which the child is sent must be suitable based on the needs, age and characteristics of the child,” Dr. Thompson explains.

A significant feature of this de-institutionalisation initiative is the piloting of the Strategic Change Pathways programme.

One of the components of this programme is training parents to receive children, whether they are biological or a foster child who has mental health and behavioural challenges.

Dr. Thompson says these children will require specific training and skills that many of the parents are not equipped with, hence this is a priority.

“We also want to strengthen our gatekeeping practices and where possible divert resources to increase the support to children in families rather than see the institution as the sole option,” he adds.

The CPFSA has been reinforcing its Alternative Care framework with special focus on family-based options, through the strengthening of Adoption Legislation and also the Regulatory framework.

“When people talk about child protection, they automatically think that the CPFSA’s responsibility or role is to remove children from their homes. This is the last thing we would want to do; we want to support children in family-based environments,” Dr Thompson explains.

However, he says that the CPFSA must secure buy-in from the common man towards the de-institutionalisation initiative.

“This means changing the expectations of the Agency and of child protection, getting civil society more interested in becoming foster or adopted parents; so, we are looking at a total cultural change,” he continues.

Strengthening the social services workforce for child protection is also high on the agenda of the Agency.

Therefore, a joined-up approach to the development of a child-protection early warning system will help with early detection of child protection concerns.

“If a child is in a community and is at risk, we are looking to our stakeholders and civil society to be able to identify those children, and through our standardised referral procedures get help before the situation is escalated to the point where removal would be necessary,” Dr. Thompsons says.

“We want early intervention for our children who are victims of various forms of abuse; therefore, a coordinated case management system, inclusive of a data-sharing agreement for effective client tracking and efficient use of resources, is part of this system,” he explains.

The Ministry of Education and Youth (through schools), Ministry of Health and Wellness (through the hospitals), Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Jamaica Constabulary Force and community members are key players in the joined-up approach to childcare protection.

“We are mobilising community resources with assistance from public and private stakeholders to reactivate child protection committees in each parish as we work to expand the reach of the CPFSA and the Government to respond to children who are in need of care and protection,” Dr. Thompson says.