MORE than 2,700 Jamaican children have been caught in the violent vortex of family feuds over the past five years, pushing many of them to turn to the safety of domestic violence intervention centres (DVICs) islandwide.

In fact, head of the response team manning the centres, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Jacqueline Dillon revealed that the initial cases brought to her attention when she assumed leadership of the team involved children.

“The first cases I got were two children who ran in and asked us for help because their mother and their father were intent on killing each other, so we have children who come and ask for help for their parents. We have had children who come and ask for help for themselves,” DSP Dillon told the Jamaica Observer following an official tour of the south St Catherine DVIC at 100 Man Police Station in Portmore last Friday.

There are now 10 DVICs domiciled at police stations islandwide. Each DVIC is run by a trained member of the constabulary, offering intervention through counselling, referrals, law enforcement intervention, protection, follow-up, home visits, and other services based on need.

Before mid-2021 the constabulary had only four such centres islandwide. The network expanded to 10 when six additional containerised centres were established with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Multi Country Office in Jamaica, under the European Union-financed Spotlight Initiative. This was combined with a survivor-centred training series delivered by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

Last Friday DSP Dillon noted that “domestic violence affects children in ways that sometimes we often ignore”.

According to data received by the Observer from the DVICs, a total 2,757 children were directly or indirectly affected by incidents of domestic violence between 2017 and 2022.

“They are in the household, a mother and father is in a domestic violence situation, the child gets in the middle and that child is seriously injured. For Jamaica we are paying attention through the DVI care centre on the implications of domestic violence as it relates to children. Nationally we also need to do that — and I don’t think we have been capturing that,” she noted.

DSP Dillon, who said children as young as nine have sought the intervention of the DVICs, told the Observer that while the police force has been doing what it can to address the issue, there is a call for greater participation at all levels.

“When it comes on to domestic violence we have to remember that children are also victims of domestic violence and the effects on them last longer. A child grows up and knows their mother and father are always in a fight is going to live that their entire life,” she noted.

There were 8,746 domestic violence cases reported across the island last year. A total 1,324 cases were referred to the DVICs compared to 1,145 in 2021.

In 2022 DVICs islandwide recorded 1,720 intimate partner violence cases and 924 family violence cases, with more than 650 reports made by children.

Males are also reporting to the DVICs despite societal norms that question the manhood of abused men — some 743 between January and October 2022 — but cases reported by females continue to outstrip the males nearly three to one and stood at 2,201 by October 2022.

United Nations data show that 28 per cent of Jamaican women experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime. In 2018, 71 per cent of girls under 18 who were victims of crime had been raped. Two out of 10 girls aged 15 to 19 years think it is okay for a husband or partner to hit his wife or partner, and 85 per cent of children experience violent discipline at home. A 2016 women’s survey showed that one in four women has reported experiencing physical or sexual violence in their lifetime.