The Office of the Children’s Advocate (OCA) in 2014 officially commissioned an investigation into the Caribbean Vulnerable Communities ( CVC) funded controversial sex education course in children’s homes. Then Youth Minister Lisa Hanna described the content that was presented to the children in the programme as inappropriate while announcing that legal advice was being sought from the attorney general regarding actions to be taken against Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ), that had facilitated the project.
In the wake of the scandal, former JFJ Executive Director Dr Carolyn Gomes who had negotiated and signed the CVC contract in April 2013 for the controversial programme, resigned as a member of the JFJ board. This was after elements of the course that was being taught to state wards, ages 12 to 18 was made public.
The course offered to the children was titled ‘Realising Sexual and Reproductive Health Responsibly: JFJ’s Pilot Intervention in Children’s Homes’, and was aimed at providing marginalised youths in children’s homes with rights-based information on sexual and reproductive rights to allow for their empowerment. Dr Gomes was the executive director of the CVC in 2014, when the controversial matter came to national attention.