Government Moves to Revise Adoption Law and Speed Up Child Placement in Jamaica

Minister of Education, Skills, Youth and Information, Senator Dr. the Hon. Dana Morris Dixon, says Jamaica is preparing changes to adoption legislation and internal systems at the Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA) to make the process less burdensome.

Speaking at the post-Cabinet press briefing on May 6 at Jamaica House in St. Andrew, the Minister said the country also needs a clear national structure for fostering as part of child-protection reform.

“We have to look at how we can make the process go quicker. We have to look at, obviously, the right of the parent versus the right of the child and how we can move it along more quickly. We have a lot of children in State care and we all know that the best place for our children is in a home with a loving family. It’s a family structure that you want them in, and so we have a responsibility to move that along more quickly but, legally, based on the Adoption Act, we are not able to move it at the speed we want to from that basis,” she said.

Dr. Morris Dixon said legal reform and administrative improvements must happen together, adding that the objective is faster adoptions and a fostering framework, which she said does not currently exist in Jamaica. She also indicated that a Joint Select Committee of Parliament will be established so more Jamaicans can weigh in on the adoption system.

She said one option being examined is to place adoption and fostering matters under the Child Care and Protection Act (CCPA), creating one wider legislative framework. According to the Minister, the proposal would be a major piece of legislation and would go before a joint select committee to allow public discussion of the planned changes.