THE Child Development Agency (CDA) yesterday held consultations with experts in child care as it moves to set up a Children’s Registry, where persons can report cases of child abuse, neglect or exploitation.

Legal, medical and penal authorities, who also participated in the consultations held at the Alhambra Inn in Kingston, were updated on the recommended protocols and procedures on which the registry would become operational.

The CDA said the consultation was also set up to obtain feedback on the proposed design and implementation of the registry, in order to inform the legislative drafting instructions and procedures.

A core group was identified to assist with on-going feedback and evaluation during the implementation phases of the establishment of the registry.

“We see the registry as the central point for receiving reports of children in need of care and protection through telephone calls, verbal or walk-in report,” said Allison Anderson, CEO of the CDA. The registry, Anderson said, will serve as a clearing house for information on child care and protection issues, filter prank cases and become a repository on the incidence and nature of child abuse in Jamaica.

“The registry must also be user friendly and as uncomplicated as possible, so that we can work effectively in protecting the best interest of the child,” Anderson said.

The identity of persons who make reports made to the registry, she added, must be kept confidential, while ensuring that the process of reporting incidences of abuse is seamless.

The development of the Children’s Registry follows the establishment of the CDA in 2003 and the appointment of the children’s advocate at the beginning of this year. The registry is designed to modernise and improve the efficiency of the child care sector through the development of an up-to-date and easily retrievable database. It will also create an avenue for reporting instances of violence against children, which is expected to improve the response capacity and the liability of the state to assist children in crisis and in need of care and protection. However, no time frame for the setting up of the registry was given.

In the meantime, children’s advocate Mary Clarke said yesterday that she was concerned that a number of parents of children who have been raped or carnally abused were hiding the young ones from court trials, making it difficult for the police to prosecute the perpetrators.

“When men are arrested for rape and carnal abuse the victims are being concealed. When the summons is to be served for court she cannot be found. Suddenly, nobody knows where she is and as soon as the court date has passed she is back in the neighbourhood and at school,” said Clarke. “Child abusers and molesters often need help themselves and when we cover up for them we are not helping them and we are in fact setting them free to let them abuse your child again or some other child or children,” said the children’s advocate.

“Please stop this practice of covering up abusers. If you are being threatened called the Victim Support Unit,” she pleaded.

Citing information from the Child Abuse Mitigation Project (CAMP) at the Bustamante Hospital for Children, which was set up to identify cases of violence and abuse against children, Clarke said the project has logged 80 cases of physical and sexual assault since the beginning of the year.

Of that number, she said social workers have not been able to locate 14 of the children. Five of them have been sexually abused and nine have been physically injured, including a gunshot injury. Five of the 14 are under the age of three years and nine are between four and 11 years old, she said.

Clarke was speaking at yesterday’s launch of the Child Abuse Prevention campaign at the Bustamante Hospital.

Under the Child Care and Protection Act, the reporting of child abuse and suspected child abuse is mandatory. If a person knowingly fails to report child abuse they can be fined $500,000 or six months in prison. If they intentionally make a false report, this attracts a fine of $250,000.

Cruelty to children attracts a fine of $1 million.