Fewer Reports Of Child Abuse During Pandemic

The National Children’s Registry (NCR) is reporting that fewer reports of child abuse have been recorded during the COVID-19 period, when compared to the prior years.

Before 2020, there were, on average, 1,200 reports of child abuse per month, while in 2020 and 2021 there have been between 800 and 900 reports per month.

Approximately 90,000 reports of child abuse were made between 2013 and 2019.

The figures were provided by the Acting Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, Dr. Grace McLean, who brought greetings on behalf of the Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Hon. Fayval Williams, at the virtual Child Protection Forum hosted by the Clarendon Inter-Agency Network (CIAN) on May 19.

“Anecdotal reports indicate that with more children being at home during the COVID-19 pandemic, they have become more vulnerable to sexual abuse. However, while child abuse on a whole remains a major issue for Jamaica, since the pandemic there has been a reduction in the number of child-abuse reports made to the National Children’s Registry (NCR),” the Minister said.

She expressed her appreciation to CIAN for organising the forum, with support from the Ministry and the National Child Month Committee (NCMC).

“The collaborative and focused attention on issues affecting children is always important. Not only are they the most vulnerable in our society but too often their cries for help are overlooked by the very persons who should be paying special attention and providing protection and care,”  the Minister said.

“Agencies of the Ministry such as the Child Protection and Family Services Agency, the National Parenting Support Commission, as well as the National Parent Teacher Association have individually and collectively made efforts to address these concerns. Your efforts here today and beyond will provide additional support, especially in the local situation,” she added.

The Child Protection Forum, titled ‘Clarendon’s Children – Break the Silence’, is part of  the Ministry’s ‘Break the Silence’ campaign that is used to encourage children and their relatives, teachers, guidance counsellors and communities to speak up and speak out when they are aware of cases of physical, emotional and sexual abuse.

The Office of the Children’s Advocate (OCA) has revealed that Clarendon is one of the parishes that have many cases of child sexual abuse.

His Worship, the Mayor of May Pen, Councillor Winston Maragh, in welcoming the participants, implored the parents and guardians to engage their children and find out what is affecting them.

“Children are going through unprecedented times that can be very traumatic and detrimental to their mental growth. One can only imagine the negative effects that the present lockdown is having,” he said.

Highlight of the forum was a special presentation featuring an illustrated story created by Jana and Rupert Bent, titled ‘The Tribe: Break the Silence’, a narration on child sexual abuse.

This was funded by the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) and the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), which enabled distribution of hard copies to all primary schools across the island in 2017.

Due to the pandemic, which has resulted in a reduction of face-to-face classes, this resource is available via YouTube to allow facilitators the ease of online use.