Jamaica grapples with unsolved cases of missing children

Jamaica: The mystery of the missing Jamaican children is still unsolved. Around 14.7 per cent of the total 1027 children are still missing over the period of January to December 2023; 875 have returned safely to their homes as per the reports shared by The Child Protection and Family Services Agency. 

According to the data shared by the agency, 151 children went missing, including 133 females and 18 males. The agency raised its concern about the increasing number of missing cases experienced in Jamaica, and they said that they are making every possible effort to control the crisis of missing children in the nation.

Laurette Adams-Thomas, the CEO of the Child Protection and Family Services Agency, while ensuring the citizens, stated that “they are implementing stringent strategies and measures to curb the instances of missing children while improving the effectiveness of recovery and intervention efforts.”

The agency has taken the initiative to find a solution to this problem, which is the hosting of a youth-centred forum, the Ananda Alert Western Youth Forum. The forum will be held in Montego Bay, St. James, which will give students from a wide cross-section of schools in the Western Region an opportunity to participate and have their voices heard.

Notably, the Ananda Alert Western Youth Forum will be the second in a series. The first forum was conducted in Kingston on 25 May 2023. These forums will target teenagers between the ages of 13 and 16.

Various residents of the Jamaica took to their social media accounts and expressed concern on the matter. One person with a Facebook account, Sasha Shaw, commented, “My God, I pray the almighty God. Bring them alive safely at home and let the family of the deceased get closure in Jesus Christ’s name. Amen.”

“A human life must be valued much more than this. Greater effort must be made to locate and find missing children in our country. Not even dogs we ignore like this,” wrote Audley Phillip.

Another person with a Facebook handle, Nardo Goddison Prado, commented the following: “We need to do better at protecting our children. 151 kids cannot be found.”