KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Office of the Children’s Advocate (OCA) says that its sole office in Kingston, with 29 employees to cover its islandwide operations, is challenged in responding to incidents reported in rural parishes.

OCA also cited a limited budget of $140 million, a high staff turnover and insufficient training and development programmes, due to insufficient funding, as other major challenges it has been facing since its institution.

This was stated in a report tabled in the House of Representative by its Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC) on its deliberations between June and July this year.

The PAAC said that it queried the OCA about its ability to leverage its authority to protect the nation’s children through ‘structured’ relations and training programmes involving the police, churches and schools within communities across the island, under the principle that “it takes a village to raise a child”.

OCA responded that it had excellent relations with those entities.

However, the committee said that it was clear that the structured relationships OCA referred to were not at the level experienced by similar Commissions of Parliament.

The PAAC, therefore, recommended that the OCA’s budget be increased in order for it to efficiently carry out its role.

The committee also asked that consideration be given to increasing the staff of the agency.

Balford Henry