KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA) has announced that all children and staff in its 50 public and private residential child care and safety homes are safe and secure following the passage of Hurricane Beryl on Wednesday.
CPFSA CEO Laurette Adams-Thomas said in a statement Thursday: “Our management team and members of our Disaster Management Committee were gathered in the Emergency Operations Centre and monitored all child care facilities across the island throughout the storm, and we are pleased to report that all children in our care, and all of the dedicated staff who weathered the storm with them, are accounted for and safe.”
“The majority of our childcare facilities are also OK and only require minor repairs. We have one facility in the southern region which has sustained damage to the kitchen, dining room roof and one of the dorms. The children have been safely relocated to other dorms on the site and we are currently working to secure replacements for the wet mattresses in that dorm,” she continued.
“We are currently assessing the damage and making plans to make repairs as quickly as possible,” Adams-Thomas added, noting that the CPFSA parish offices are all OK and have only seen minor damage in some locations so far.
The CEO, however, noted that the power outages affecting different parts of the island have also affected some childcare centres and CPFSA parish offices.
“Some of our childcare facilities are currently without power but are managing through other appropriate means until power is restored. Some of our parish offices are also without power which may impact the efficiency of all the services we provide but they should return to full efficiency once power is restored,” Adams Thomas said.
She also said the 24/7 child abuse reporting hotline, 211, was also experiencing intermittent outages and encouraged people wanting to report child abuse to contact the CPFSA using two other telephone numbers, 876-878-2882 and 876-822-7031.
Reports of child abuse can also be made by email: report@childprotection.gov.jm or through the CPFSA’s social media pages: Instagram, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), @cpfsajm.
