FOUNDER of Hear the Children’s Cry Betty-Anne Blaine is recommending that there be a counter-cultural public education and media campaign and specially designed curriculum to push the need for the voices of the nation’s children to be heard.

Blaine made her suggestions in accordance with the theme for Child Month 2022, “Listen Up, Children’s Voices Matter.”

“Create and pursue a counter-cultural campaign through public education, television, radio, social media and providing short sharp tips on how we listen and speak and listen to children,” she said at the Child Month 2022 media launch at the Institute of Jamaica in Kingston on Wednesday.

Pointing out another recommendation, she said, “Design and introduce a children’s voices curriculum for the formal education system involving discussions and sharing sessions, children’s artwork, drawings and other appropriate learning tools across all levels of the school system and running through all the subject areas. That model can then be adopted by churches, youth groups and any organisation or group working with children.”

She also suggested that the media heighten its engagement of children through conversations, polls, surveys and voxpops so that their opinions and views are heard, respected and validated.

At the same time, Blaine explained that this year has not started off so well for the nation’s children, as there has been several reports indicating children being harmed or killed.

Referencing newspaper headlines, Blaine said, “January 12, 15-year-old murdered along with 25-year-old man; January 13, nine-year-old murdered during carjacking in St James; January 20, police awaiting autopsy on toddler who died after being in car for hours; February 22, child dies after being hit by car in St James; February 28, four-year-old student dies locked in teacher’s car. March 9, 11-year-old girl among three siblings shot dead in Irwin Heights, St James; March 31, mom sentenced to probation for failure to report teenage pregnancy…and there are more reports, even ones that have not been made public.”

Blaine said although there is a multiplicity of laws and government and non-government agencies advocating for childcare and protection, she is questioning why so many children are still in danger.

“Why are our children increasingly becoming an endangered species? How do you explain that? It seems to me that the answer lies in the fractured state of family life in our country. It lies in the abandonment of values and attitudes, promotion and education. It lies in the negative aspects of popular culture including social media and it lies in the intergenerational cycle of poverty among other structural and systemic factors,” she said.

But Blaine said she is not giving up on protecting the nation’s children.

“We are not hopeless, and this year’s Child Month theme ‘Listen up, Children’s Voices Matter’ is in itself a catalyst for change if we collectively agree with this message and take this cause seriously. I believe the first thing we must agree upon is that children have a right to a voice and I am saying this even when I recognise that it is not an easy thing in a culture that still believes children must be seen and not heard,” she said.