Yahneake Sterling, Staff Reporter
Betty-Ann Blaine (right), convenor of children's advocacy group Hear the Children Cry, chats with Michael McGibbon, membership growth and education director of the Kiwanis Club of Kingston, during the club's weekly luncheon yesterday at the Hilton Kingston in St. Andrew. Ms. Blaine was the guest speaker at the function. - RUDOLPH BROWN/CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
MENTORING IS a critical intervention strategy to save children who are increasingly becoming casualties of the breakdown of the family, Betty-Ann Blain, convenor of children's advocacy group Hear the Children Cry, said yesterday.
Ms. Blaine said yesterday that serious attention must be paid to children and young people as violence is a long development process that starts in early childhood.
"Jamaica doesn't have a crime problem, Jamaica has a family problem," Ms. Blaine said during the weekly Kiwanis Club luncheon held at the Hilton Kingston in St. Andrew yesterday.
She proposed that, to curb the rise of criminality among youth, especially boys, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Culture should introduce a grade nine 'Prevent a Dropout Programme'. She said such a programme should target volatile communities to identify at-risk boys.
DOUBLE-PRONGED INTERVENTION
Ms. Blaine argued that a double-pronged intervention was currently needed in Jamaica.
"First, we find a way to disarm the current population of young criminals, and second, we must cauterise the problem by stemming the production of any new crime recruits," she said.
Ms. Blaine added that the 'Prevent a Dropout Programme' could be introduced to assist in these areas.
Claiming that the ratio of security forces to criminals in Jamaica is one to five, she suggested the Government also introduce a "Ministry of Family Affairs" to look into the reconstruction of family life.
"Fix families and you fix Jamaica. There are no quick fixes, but it can be done, if we are genuinely committed to the task," she said.
Describing the current Government as the worst this country has ever seen, Ms. Blaine also said that the "the notion of solid achievement and Jamaica being classified as the number one murder capital in the world is completely incompatible."
