Dear Editor,
The nation mourns the passing of a great Jamaican, a stalwart advocate for the well-being of children, and defender of their right to a secure and nurturing childhood.
Betty Ann Blaine, founder of Hear the Children’s Cry was the tireless amplified voice for the voiceless, shining much needed light on countless dark places of harms and dangers to Jamaica’s children. The lives of so many children were improved because she courageously championed for redress to their plight, so many children’s lives will now be worse off for her passing.
Might she have been aware of the latest tragic headlines? We may never know, but if she were, she would have grieved deeply. Hear the Children’s scream, this is beyond cries!
Jamaican children are killing other Jamaican children and terrorizing Jamaican adults. Are we ok with that? Is anyone feeling ashamed that this is our reality? This news isn’t new. It’s been around for a long time and with each failure to seriously intervene to cauterize the wound and stop the flow at source, the crisis only deepens.
Various quarters in society have (again) recommended various solutions, but the weight of action seems (again) to be unfairly and disproportionately placed on teachers. But that is not their job! Even if the Ministries of Education and Youth, and National Security became close friends, they cannot solve the crisis of our children’s anger. Angelica Dalrymple, immediate past president of the Jamaica Association of Guidance Counsellors rightly said that “children are filled with anger and hate and a myriad of negative emotions…. we have taught them violence, and they know no other way to resolve what they feel” (13/5/2024, Gleaner).
They are angry because of what they have seen, heard, lived and been trained to replicate. They are also angry because deeply held expectations failed to materialise. These included expecting a nurturing mother and father who would lovingly establish boundaries and ‘show and tell’ how to live out the values of the National Pledge. Children innately want this but it didn’t happen. We should hardly be surprised then if their angry disappointment is turned inward as well as expressed outwardly to peers and adults.
What are we to do? Let us turn to the voice of the children’s defender, our late friend Betty Ann on the matter. Her famous mantra filled with wisdom was, “if you fix the family, you fix the nation”. There you go! The answer is in the family.
The family is where all attention and effort must be targeted. It has to be the foundation of any response. And not any all-inclusive sweeping definition of family. We have no choice left but to hold accountable all fathers and mothers who brought their children into the world. Hold them accountable to complete their paramount role in life – raising their children to become self-regulated, emotionally healthy citizens. These are key ingredients for our children to thrive as adults. The rest of Jamaican society desperately needs parents to accomplish this nation-building vocation.
The family is every child’s first society. Fathers and mothers are children’s first loves, teachers, law enforcers, and cheerleaders. Who else can do it without incurring tremendous fiscal costs to taxpaying bystanders? It has been estimated that family failure costs UK taxpayers GBP51 billion in 2018, around 3% of their GDP (Relationship Foundation, UK). The estimated cost in New Zealand for 2021-2022 is NZ$21 billion (Family First, 2023). Source of costs include health and social care, income support, criminal justice intervention, educational failure and delinquency in school, among other areas. Anyone willing to quantify Jamaica’s costs?
Jamaica’s children are perishing for lack of love, and as US sociologist Dr Patrick Fagan once said, “you can’t go to government for love.” Any form of intervention by teachers, guidance counsellors, deans of discipline or the police will simply be proxy parenting, but with increasing demands on the national budget.
According to Dr Fagan, the real root cause of violent crime is the breakdown of marriage, family and community (research study of the same name, 1999/2015). The criminal behaviour of our children mirrors the criminal behaviour plaguing national law enforcement. The same persons can efficiently address both issues – responsible and loving fathers and mothers.
Any feelings of awkwardness about speaking about family life and practice in Jamaica has to become passé. We are too far down the pitch on this one. Family failure is no longer private, it is public and has gone viral.
May Betty Ann’s message never be silenced because of her transition to glory. May many among us rise up in her stead to hear the children’s cries and act definitively to comfort them, but more than anything, let us truly fix the family. Jamaica’s children need it and deserve it.
I am,
Philippa Davies
Founder, #MarriageMattersJamaica, an educational initiative on how humanity’s oldest institution is Jamaica’s best hope to reduce violent crime, boost GDP and improve public health.