KINGSTON, Jamaica – Jamaicans are being urged to desist from attacking the reputation and integrity of teenaged girls who go missing, as this affects the seriousness with which the public views these reports.
Registrar of the Office of the Children’s Registry (OCR), Greig Smith, says this long-standing mindset among many Jamaicans needs to be stamped out, in order for all citizens to take responsibility for the care and protection of children.
“That’s an approach that we need to change. We have a no-care attitude as it regards the care and protection of our children,” Smith said in an interview with OBSERVER ONLINE. “Some just feel that once it is reported (for example) that a 13-year-old child is missing, it’s because she has a boyfriend.
“We don’t look to examine the possible reasons why she could have left home,” Smith reasoned.
“I want to encourage all of us, as citizens, that let us see the care and protection of children as our business. Let us not criticise, be judgemental, and draw assumptions,” Smith insisted.
The registrar is urging Jamaicans to remain vigilant, despite the ten per cent drop in reports of missing children for January to December 2014, which it announced recently. This is 221 children fewer than were reported missing in 2013. (Observer)