Betty Ann Blaine, founder of lobby group Hear the Children’s Cry and Youth Opportunities Unlimited died on May 13.
The prominent children’s advocate who has been ailing for some time, died in the United States.
Blaine’s outspoken personality made her a household name locally and across the diaspora. She advocated on behalf of the nation’s children and had organised several initiatives to meet their varied needs. Her areas of focus included children welfare, education, and the protection of children from abuse.
The Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA) described her as a stalwart and a key partner in child protection efforts through her activism-based organization, Hear the Children Cry. The government entity said Blaine had previously served multiple terms on its advisory board and had contributed to the agency’s development during her tenure.
“Ms. Blaine, a child protection stalwart with a warm, yet indomitable spirit, has left a legacy of championing the rights of Jamaican children that will not soon be forgotten,” said CEO of the CPFSA, Laurette Adams Thomas.
Adams-Thomas noted that both the CPFSA and Hear the Children’s Cry partnered on the Ananda Alert System. Hear the Children Cry was integral in the renaming of the Ananda Alert System from its former name, the Red Alert System, and also influenced policy changes which resulted in the wait time to report a child going missing, moving from 24 hours, to an immediate report.
“In addition to being the first organization in the Caribbean to sign on to the Global Missing Children’s Network in 2015, even leading the way for the CPFSA, Hear the Children’s Cry would have also increase their value to the Ananda Alert System by providing preventative counselling services to children likely to run away through their runaway prevention programme called “Let’s Talk, Don’t Walk” in which children can call and speak with someone that they can trust if they are having any issues that may lead to them running away,” Adams-Thomas added.
