KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA) says that it has intervened following the rescue of five children from the community of Caribbean Terrace in Harbour View, St Andrew.

The children and their two caregivers were reportedly rescued by representatives of the Ministry of Local Government during Hurricane Beryl on Wednesday, and taken to a local emergency shelter.

Chief Executive Officer of the CPFSA, Laurette Adams-Thomas said she became aware of the situation while monitoring the news stations from an Emergency Operations Centre during the hurricane.

“We immediately contacted that news station, and were told that the councillor for the Harbour View Division was sending a vehicle to rescue them and take them to a nearby shelter,” Adams-Thomas said.

“Once they arrived at the shelter, we contacted the shelter manger to acquire their necessary information, and remained in contact until members of our investigations team arrived to assess the situation and to act in the wellbeing of the children,” she continued.

Adams-Thomas said a team from the CPFSA arrived at the shelter on Thursday where they learned that it was actually two separate families — one mother with four children and another mother with one child.

She said the children were assessed and were also provided with a hot meal.

“In the case of the family with the four children, the three younger children — ages 13, 10 and seven — were brought into our care.  The eldest child, a 17-year-old who lives with her other parent in St Thomas was visiting with her mother at the time of the storm, and has since returned home. We have kept the three children together at one residential facility, while the mother works on finding suitable living arrangements. We will also be offering whatever support we can to the mother through our Child and Family Support Unit (CFSU),” Adams-Thomas said.

“The other mother who is also a resident of Caribbean Terrace was however not living at the same dilapidated house but was living at a safer and more secure home in the community. We conducted a home assessment at that location and determined it to be suitable for her and her child and they have since returned home,” she added.

Adams-Thomas also encouraged persons who know of or suspect cases of child abuse to make a report directly to the CPFSA via the 24/7 child abuse reporting hotline 211 or 876-878-2882 and 876-822-7031.

Child abuse reports can also be made via email at report@childprotection.gov.jm or through the CPFSA’s social media pages on Instagram, Facebook, and X (formerly Twitter), @cpfsajm.