Child protection agency urges summer safety as West Albion demolitions continue and PNP protests House conduct

Jamaica's Child Protection and Family Services Agency on Thursday urged parents and caregivers to step up supervision during the summer holiday, warning that children face greater exposure to accidents, abuse, exploitation and other harm when they are left unsupervised or when their online and offline activity is not closely watched. The agency said the weeks ahead require stronger adult involvement even though summer also brings recreation, travel and social activities.

The agency's chief executive officer, Adams-Thomas, said parents and caregivers should take a proactive approach by knowing where children are, who they are with and whether proper supervision is in place. She also highlighted water safety as a major concern at the start of the break, saying this period often brings preventable injuries and fatalities involving children near beaches, rivers, pools and other bodies of water. She warned that drowning can happen quietly and suddenly, and said young children need constant direct supervision while older children should remain under the guidance of responsible adults.

The agency also told parents to pay close attention to the adults interacting with children during the holidays, including those in charge of day camps, overnight camps and other organised activities. It advised parents to speak directly with the adults supervising visits to friends, and, where possible, manage drop-off and pick-up themselves to cut down the chance of children being abused, exploited or trafficked. Adams-Thomas also warned against leaving children at home alone while parents are at work or placing them under the care of siblings who are also minors, arguing that children lack the judgment, experience and authority to recognise and respond to manipulative behaviour by predators. The agency further urged parents to monitor devices, review privacy settings, use parental controls on electronic devices and televisions, and watch for signs such as sudden secrecy, unexplained gifts, behaviour changes or requests to meet people known only online. Children, it said, should feel free to report anything or anyone that makes them uncomfortable, online or in person.

In West Albion, St. Thomas, several houses were demolished on Wednesday by National Land Agency personnel accompanied by police, despite a call from Opposition spokesman on land Newton Cousins on Monday for the government to halt any planned or ongoing demolition exercise until a fair and humane process consistent with human rights obligations was in place. Residents said NLA teams arrived without warning on Wednesday morning with heavy equipment and started tearing down houses while many homeowners were away. The exercise continued until about 8 p.m.

The People's National Party also said it was gravely concerned about Tuesday's sitting of the House of Representatives, describing it as part of a pattern of procedural inconsistency, selective enforcement of the standing orders and conduct that weakens Parliament's constitutional role as Jamaica's main forum for accountability, scrutiny and debate. The party pointed to three incidents: Phillip Paulwell being ruled out before he could identify a procedural issue over the Integrity Commission's latest report not appearing on the order paper despite having been submitted to Parliament, and being told to raise the matter privately with the leader of government business; the Speaker proceeding without a division on a regulations committee report after opposition members said they had clearly and promptly called for one, prompting a request for a review of Hansard and the official recording; and government members turning the later debate into personal attacks on South St. James MP Nikisha Burchell after she challenged the handling of proceedings, while the Speaker allowed those remarks to dominate discussion though they were largely irrelevant. The PNP also objected to Local Government Minister Desmond McKenzie, while pointing across the chamber, warning Burchell that she should not cross his path "or else," saying the remark could reasonably be read as threatening and intimidating and lowers the standard of parliamentary discourse. Paulwell said the issue was about protecting Parliament as an institution, Rose Shaw said no MP should face intimidation or selective enforcement of the rules, and Christopher Brown said former speaker Marisa Dalrymple Philibert's public singling out of Burchell amounted to incitement and went against proper conduct in the House. The opposition said it would continue resisting what it called oppressive and undemocratic management of the House and would defend Burchell against intimidatory conduct.