KINGSTON, Jamaica — As child abuse reports continue to climb, social development advocates are warning that the country’s core issue may not be gangs or guns — but parenting.
Voices in the child welfare space are calling on the Jamaican Government to initiate a comprehensive, 10-year intervention targeting parenting habits and household dynamics across the island.
The urgent appeal comes as Jamaica observes Child Month under the theme “Act Now: Stand Against Child Abuse and Exploitation.” But advocates argue that the root of many of these abuses lies not in schools or streets — but in homes ill-equipped to nurture, discipline, or communicate effectively with children.
“It’s not enough to invest billions in national security while families remain in disarray,” said Nigel Cooper, director of Hear The Children’s Cry (HTCC). “You cannot police your way out of a parenting crisis.”
HTCC is proposing a nationwide, multi-agency strategy focused on reforming parenting practices over the next decade. The suggested initiative would directly engage parents of children ages 6 to 16, spanning primary and secondary school years — the most formative stages of development.
The model includes personalized mentorship, media campaigns, and school-based interventions — all backed by significant state funding. “Cultural change isn’t a weekend seminar,” said Cooper. “It’s a generational shift, and that takes time, structure, and sustained investment.”
While the Ministry of Education and agencies like the Child Protection and Family Services Agency have existing parenting programmes, HTCC argues these need to be scaled up with urgency and reinforced by community-level partnerships, including NGOs, churches, and service clubs.
HTCC’s draft blueprint — dubbed the Back-to-Basics Parenting Plan — encourages parents to spend May re-engaging their children, not through lectures, but presence:
- Sit and read together
- Play a game or sport, weekly
- Go to church as a family
- Talk face-to-face — not through screens
- Fathers especially are urged to reconnect, emotionally and physically, with their children
“This is not a call for perfect parents,” said Cooper. “It’s a national call for present ones.”
