'I feel I can retire happily'

Mary Clarke reflects on five years as children's advocate

Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer

It may have been her final day as children's advocate, but Mary Clarke was still busy on the job last Thursday. Newspapers and reports from children's agencies competed for space on the desk of her downtown Kingston office.

Clarke, 69, headed the Office of the Children's Advocate (OCA) since January 2006, the first person to hold that position. Though citing numerous challenges, Clarke described her tenure as "five really good years".

She pointed to newspaper articles about two cases in which the OCA was intimately involved as evidence of the OCA's progress. The April 1 opening of the Metcalfe Juvenile Centre in Kingston was one of those stories, while the other dealt with a teacher being charged for a 2009 incident which resulted in a student losing the sight in an eye.

"When I see things like this, I feel I can retire happily," Clarke said.

prior employment

Clarke accepted the post of Children's Advocate after working 18 years as a teacher and another 17 as head of the Planning Institute of Jamaica's social development and gender unit.

The OCA started out with a 12-member staff and a budget of $13 million, largely provided by the Government. It is currently operated by 17 staffers with a budget of almost $70 million.

The organisation's mandate is multifaceted. It includes monitoring conditions in places of safety and hospitals for children as well as tracking domestic abuse and child-related court matters.

Some major incidents involving children have taken place in the past five years. These include the May 2009 fire at the Armadale Juvenile Correctional Centre in St Ann, where seven wards of the state were killed.

Child abductions and the number of unattended children being burnt to death in homes were other concerns for Clarke and her staff. She had hoped legislation that would allow minors to give video-recorded evidence in the courts would be passed during her tenure.

Despite the Armadale tragedy, Clarke believes there have been improvements in children's homes. Another accomplishment, she noted, came in 2007 with the establishment of the Children's Registry where child abuse is reported.

After a slow start, Clarke said calls have been coming into that office at a rapid rate, with more than 6,000 reports made in 2010.

"There's a culture towards children in Jamaica that needs to be changed, and our office cannot change that culture overnight," Clarke stated.

"There's this attitude among adults that 'Children are mine so I can beat them as I feel', or, 'I spend my money on this girl so I can have first pick at her'," she added.

Carolyn Gomes, executive director at human rights group Jamaicans For Justice, said the OCA has done a good job alerting the private and public sectors to children's issues.

"The challenge now is for Ms Clarke's successor to take it to another level by making the OCA a stronger advocate for children's rights," Gomes said.

early life

Mary Clarke was born in Manchester, the seventh of nine children to Harold Percival Gibson and Mary Gibson. She said her father was a farmer who served on the executive of the Jamaica Agricultural Society and Citrus Growers Association, while her mother was a housewife.

Clarke taught at St Andrew and Manning's high schools, and said it was during her time in the classroom that her first big children's assignment came up.

"Five girls were pregnant and the school did not want them to sit exams, so I put my foot down. I insisted they should sit the exams," she recalled.

Her time at the Planning Institute of Jamaica was spent mainly dealing with women's issues. When she was appointed to head the OCA five years ago, Clarke stressed she was not stepping into unfamiliar territory.

"I had done social work for 40 years. A title just made it official," she said.

Clarke was married for 33 years to Supreme Court judge Neville Clarke who died eight years ago. She has three children and six grandchildren.