We all know that a key element in ensuring long-term social stability is to take care of our children to the very best of our ability.

However, simply knowing is not enough.

The harsh truth is that far too many of our children are falling by the wayside because of inadequate care. Very often, those are the children who grow up to haunt the rest of us through criminality and antisocial behaviour.

In that regard, we are very grateful to junior minister for justice Ms Marisa Dalrymple Philibert and Children’s Advocate Ms Diahann Gordon Harrison.

The two teamed up at Parliament’s recent joint select committee meeting reviewing the Child Diversion Act (2018) to unveil some simple truths about some of the challenges afflicting childcare we should all contemplate.

They told parliamentarians that children with behavioural problems but who have committed no criminal offences are increasingly being diverted to State-run institutions such as children’s homes and correctional centres. That reality not only overburdens the child diversion programme, but — as this newspaper understands it — is in breach of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child to which Jamaica is signatory.

Ms Gordon Harrison explained that child diversion is “meant to deal with children who have actually committed a criminal offence (who need to be diverted through specialised care and attention) not children who are running away or who are ‘skulling’ (absenting themselves from) school… “

According to the children’s advocate, the problem of misplaced diversion exists because of the absence of “therapeutic care centres which should be providing specialised support for children with behavioural challenges under the Child Care and Protection Act”.

She added that: “They [therapeutic centres] need to become operational and equipped with the necessary human and physical resources as a matter of urgency…”

Strong, unequivocal support for the children’s advocate came from Ms Dalrymple Philibert, who is Member of Parliament for Trelawny Southern and a former Speaker of the House of Representatives.

“I want to confirm exactly what Mrs Gordon-Harrison is saying… that we need to provide a facility for those children — and there are a lot of them all around the country — and it is true that the Courts are sending them to [State care] homes, [which] are not equipped…”

Directly addressing Justice Minister Delroy Chuck, who chaired the joint select committee meeting, Ms Dalrymple Philibert was admirably plain.

“Minister, those [therapeutic] centres have never existed. Those children [with behavioural challenges] have ended up in children’s homes for generations, and I say so from personal knowledge of the situation… and that is an area that needs to be addressed,” she said.

Of course, as we all are well aware, addressing the problem is easier said than done. Establishing the required therapeutic/rehabilitation centres will take substantial resources, which are always in short supply, but now especially sparse in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Melissa.

But, as we dig our way out of the massive hole left by our worst natural disaster of modern times, our vision of a better future for our children must not be clouded or lost.

Let’s consider that giving much more of a helping hand to our maladjusted children could, over time, save precious resources now being spent to combat crime and dispense justice to perpetrators.