Alarming child abuse figures

Dr Grace McLean, acting permanent secretary in the Ministry of Education, has said the rate of child abuse is alarming.

“These statistics are frightening and likely do not tell the full story as often a culture of silence is in a family or neighbourhood over the fear of embarrassment, overrides the real damage being done to our children,” McLean said prior to highlighting data from 2013 when 4,000 cases of child abuse were reported.

In 2014, she highlighted that there was an increase of 3,000, bringing the number to 7,000 cases and in 2015, there were 12,000 cases. In 2017 and 2018, there were over 15,000 cases reported with the figures trending down in 2019 to 14,000 and a further decline in 2020.

Commenting on the decline, McLean said child abuse still remains a major issue. She cautioned that vigilance must be maintained on a normal basis, pointing out that guidance counsellors and teachers would have been the ones to pick up on the abuse and report it to the Child Protection and Family Services Agency and Centre for Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse.

“So, we are not going to be taking any solace in the fact that because child abuse is down, then it is actually the true data that is being provided. It means that we just have to remain vigilant,” she said in her address.

Wednesday’s forum emerged out of the Clarendon Inter Agency Network (CIAN) meeting where a discussion surrounded the incidents of child abuse. A committee was set up to look at intervention methods with sibling Jana and Rupert Bent’s ‘The Tribe Break The Silence’ audio book chosen as the method to engage students between the ages of eight and 12.

SERIES OF INTERVENTIONS

Baldvin McKenzie, co-chair of CIAN, said the forum is one in a series of the parish interventions designed to raise awareness about the issues of child abuse and women within the parish.

“The committee, headed by Dr Sasha Shim Hue, met with her team and came up with two initiatives to kick-start the parish awareness programme,” he shared with The Gleaner, noting that the first plan was to establish a CIAN information flyer showing where and how persons can get help as it relates to abuse, domestic violence and the children forum on the theme, ‘Children Breaks the Silence’ which was powered by the Ministry of Education Region Seven.

McKenzie said other initiatives will be done during the year by CIAN, noting that it is the beginning of a collaborative effort with agencies and parents and the community at large.

“This is just the beginning, a lot more to come, we must get rid of this monster that is plaguing our society, let the children live out their childhood, leave the women for them to live in peace,” he stressed.

Winston Maragh, mayor of May Pen, in his address encouraged children to speak out about the various issues affecting them. He also encouraged parents to engage with their children and talk to them about online classes and find out if anything is affecting them.

“Children are going through some unprecedented events and interactions are necessary do something special for your children,” he said as he reminded to ‘continue to break the silence’.

editorial@gleanerjm.com