Over the years, the Flow Foundation has been an advocate for empowering children and supporting their safety and right to life. The Foundation has done this through its many partnerships and initiatives that offer communication tools, digital literacy and broadband access for our children’s healthy development. One such initiative is SafeSpot, a free 24/7 helpline that provides counselling support to children and teenagers who require mental, emotional and social well-being support.

SafeSpot was launched in May 2021 by the Office of the Children’s Advocate (OCA), UNICEF and the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ). Flow, which is, a member of the PSOJ,helped establish the tollfree line (888-723-7768). Flow also recently added unlimited SMS messaging service, giving the OCA more opportunities to provide life-saving intervention. SafeSpot is staffed by qualified counsellors and psychologists who have been specifically trained to respond to the needs of children in Jamaica.

According to the most recent UNICEF Violence Against Children report, Jamaica ranks amongst the highest countries in Latin America and the Caribbean for violent disciplining in the home. During a recent visit to Jamaica, United Nations Special Representative on Violence against Children, Dr Najat Maalla M’jid, spoke to the need to start doing more to protect our children through collaboration and action. She noted that Jamaica is running out of time to meet its 2030 targets of eliminating violence against children.

Since last May, the toll-free lline has facilitated more than 3,600 calls. Data reveals that more than 60 per cent of the callers are females with the top issues being mental health, family relationships, peer relationships and endangerment. Between April and September 2022, the majority of calls have been from the 13-15 age group, followed by the 16-17 age group.

Children’s Advocate Diahann Gordon Harrison says SafeSpot has plugged an important gap in services that are readily available for children.

“As The Office of the Children’s Advocate has a mandate to safeguard the rights of children and to promote their best interests, SafeSpot has positively impacted our ability to reach children across Jamaica in a meaningful way,” said Gordon Harrison. “Through SafeSpot, we are able to identify the concerns of children in the 14 parishes, isolate what issues affect each age group better and what is happening with boys versus girls. This information feeds directly into the OCA’s ability to specifically target each cohort and to ensure that the support and guidance that they need is appropriately provided.”

She further added: “At the macro-level, as time progresses, SafeSpot will be able to assist with policy direction as its very rich data can serve as a guide as to where the problems are and the types of interventions that are needed.”

According to Kayon Mitchell, Flow’s Director of Communications at Flow Jamaica and Executive Director of the Flow Foundation, “Violence against children must be eliminated from our society. It will take a collaborative approach to truly understand how our children are dealing with the issues they face daily and how we can help them.”

“The toll-free line and SMS service provided by Flow will help the OCA optimise its communication and outreach efforts by providing more options for children at risk to reach out for help.”

In support of child safety and empowerment, the Flow Foundation also provides a toll-free line to UNICEF’s U-Report, a social messaging tool and data collection system, as well as powers free internet service for the Mustard Seed facilities and numerous community centres across the island. Through its partnership with the Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA), the Flow Foundation also impacts children in state care through donations, specialised activities and free broadband service.