Child diversion favoured over state homes

Members of a joint select committee reviewing the Child Diversion Act, 2018 have suggested that children deemed “uncontrollable” should not be placed in state homes and institutions. Instead, the members said, they should be referred to the Child Diversion Programme, where they can benefit from mentorship and psychological support.

Committee Chairman Delroy Chuck argued that one of the greatest problems plaguing most societies is that when children get into trouble, they are placed in institutions that do not help them.

Chuck, who is also the minister of justice and constitutional affairs, said once children are placed in state institutions, things generally go “downhill”.

He said many adults who end up in correctional facilities repeatedly were first sent to state institutions when they were children.

“The people who become recidivists in prison, they are people who start out in institutions. Once they go to an institution, it is downhill,” Chuck insisted.

“We need to stop institutionalising our children,” he reiterated, adding that they should be mentored under the Child Diversion Programme, which he said has produced success stories.

He said issues around the misbehaviour of children that were being referred to the Child Protection and Family Services Agency could easily and have successfully been dealt with under child diversion.

Marisa Dalrymple Philibert, the state minister for justice, echoed similar sentiments but was more strident in her call for children who commit minor offences to be diverted from state homes.

Noting that she interacted with children’s homes in Trelawny, Dalrymple Philibert said: “They are destroying rather than helping children.”

“The institutions that we have with our children and that we are spending money to pay staff to do, … I am convinced would be better served in helping a Child Diversion Programme and giving the children a chance to rehabilitate and become a part of society,” she said.

Isat Buchanan, a member of the committee, suggested that Section 34 of the legislation, which speaks to “uncontrollable” minors, be revisited. He also said sending children to state homes should be a last resort.

Providing an update on the Child Diversion Programme, Julia Moncrieffe Wiggan, policy director in the Ministry of Justice, said a total of 2,810 cases were referred between March 2020 and January 2026. Of tht number, 1,143 children successfully completed the Child Diversion Programme while some are receiving mentoring and other support.

A breakdown of the cases referred from March 2020 to March 2025 based on parish showed St Andrew leading with 258 followed by Kingston with 243. For Kingston, 201 cases were referred to the Child Diversion Programme while Manchester recorded 187 followed by St Thomas with 185.

Under the legislation being reviewed, ‘child diversion’ means a child-appropriate process of determining the responsibility and treatment of a child in conflict with the law without resorting to formal adjudication by a court.

The legislation places focus on rehabilitation over punishment, aiming to prevent children from being criminalised and instead providing them with opportunities for reform and reintegration into society.

edmond.campbell@gleanerjm.com