JAMAICA
The Gleaner
Thursday | January 12, 2017
Edmond Campbell
The hotline to make reports of incidents of child abuse will now be working 24 hours a day, eight hours more than the previous 16 hours it operated. This move by the Government comes in the wake of increased reports of child abuse.
The Office of the Children’s Registry (OCR) currently operates the 1-888-PROTECT hotline from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. When reports are made to the OCR, the agency establishes a case number then refers the matter to one of several departments, including the Child Development Agency, the Centre for the Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse (CISOCA), and the Children’s Advocate.
Speaking yesterday at the post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House, Minister of Education and Information Ruel Reid said that funding for the hotline has been increased.
In recent times, there has been intense public debate about issues of child abuse in the wake of the alleged sexual assault of a 15-year-old girl by a 64-year-old Moravian pastor, who has since been charged with having sex with a minor.
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