The pain of losing a child can scar families for a very long time. In most instances that grief extends to the wider community and if people do not receive professional counselling the torment can escalate.

The family, friends, and associates of that 14-year-old grade nine Belair High School student who passed last week will need that type of support for some time, as the manner of her death was most troubling.

The child, we are told, died two days after ingesting engine coolant. If, as is suspected, her death was at her own hands, it raises the question as to what drove her to such a final action.

In the aftermath of the tragedy the comments of a teacher at the school caught our attention.

According to the teacher, the child was not attending school on a regular basis and they had “several issues with her running away”.

If that is true, it was, we believe, a signal for the school to have taken an interest in the child and try to determine what was going on in her life. Additionally, the teenager’s home community appeared to have missed the opportunity to help for, according to Councillor Mario Mitchell, who represents the Bellefield Division, “a number of them… knew about the situation and never said anything to” him, as had he known, he could have helped.

Children at that age are in great need of guidance and support. Adults who have the ability to earn their trust and offer counselling have a duty to do just that when they detect behaviour that is out of character.

Belair High Principal Mr Conrad Jones is indeed correct when he told our reporter that sometimes you see people and you don’t know what they are going through.

“We have to ensure that, for especially our teenagers in our society, that we listen to them. We tend to always be wanting to talking at them rather than with them. We have to listen to them. We have to pay attention to any trend in terms of their attitude and their behaviour and just ensure that we get the professionals involved in solving some of these problems,” Mr Jones said.

Unfortunately for this child the signals were either missed or ignored. Our duty as human beings is to try our best to ensure that something like this does not happen again.

Parents, in particular, supported by the school community, churches, etc need to be vigilant. There is no shortage of organisations, State agencies, and individuals that offer help to anyone, especially children, who are going through challenges of any kind.

Children’s Advocate Mrs Diahann Gordon Harrison is always a source of good advice, especially for parents. We have, over the years, listened to her consistently encouraging parents to be available for their children.

“Sometimes they just want us to be attentive to them a little bit. They want us to play a game with them, they want to show us something very silly, they want to show a funny face and they want you to make it back,” we recall Mrs Gordon Harrison saying at a virtual parenting seminar hosted by the Kiwanis Club of Providence in Montego Bay, St James, in 2021.

“If our children are confused about something, or are in trouble, or need help, will they turn to us as parents or will they go to others who may not give them the best advice? Are we accessible and available for our children to come to? When they do reach out to us, we must be attentive.”

Sage advice.