The duty to report cases of child abuse

DEAR MRS MACAULAY, What does the law say about it being mandatory to report the case of a child I believe is being abused? This pertains to a neighbour of mine. I have just moved into the community, and every day I hear sounds like their young child is being beaten. None of the other neighbours seem to care.

Thank you for your letter and for your very important question about the legal provision in the Child Care and Protection Act of 2004, of the duty of every person/citizen within Jamaica to report any and all instances of actual or suspected abuse of a child.

It is mandatory to do so, and any failure by a citizen – that is, all adult persons in Jamaica – to do so, is an offence, and they can be tried in the Circuit or Parish Courts of Jamaica.  If the offender is tried and found guilty, the maximum penalty is a fine of $500,000 or imprisonment of six months or to both. I am not addressing the duty of “prescribed persons”, which is to say, professional persons who deal with the health, education, social needs or counselling of children, those who care for children, and those whose employment imposes on them a duty of care towards children.

The provision regarding the duty to report appears in section 6 of the Child Care and Protection Act, and since you are a neighbour, section 6(2) is the specific provision which applies to citizens/persons generally who have information which causes them to suspect that that a child is being ill-treated, and severally so. If you hear sounds which have led you to believe or suspect that a child in a neighbour’s house is being beaten, you need to act.

The subsection of Section 6 is directed to ALL PERSONS WHO HAVE INFORMATION WHICH CAUSES YOU TO SUSPECT THAT A CHILD- (a) has been (past); is being (currently); or is likely to be (future)… physically or (otherwise)… ill-treated; (b) is otherwise in need of care and protection, SHALL MAKE A REPORT TO THE REGISTRY.

This Registry was established in Section 5 of the Act as the Children’s Registry, with a Children’s Register.  The Register contains information supplied by persons who do so as Section 6 mandates.  The Children’s Registry is now within the Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA).

Section 6(7) requires a person who believes a child is being abused to report it to the Children’s Registry as soon as is reasonably possible, by relaying the material facts which caused them to believe/suspect that a child is being abused.  As you can see, I am confining my attention specifically to the present time, as you say the child is being beaten everyday which you deduce from the sounds you hear each day.  You should therefore report what you have heard and are hearing and at what times of each day to the Children’s Registry now.  Do not delay any further.

The Act also provides that your identity cannot be disclosed by any officer of the Registry or by the police when a report of a suspected abuse of a child is made, nor can the fact of the report or any information in it be disclosed which may lead to your identity or that of the child being discovered.  If any of these officials are responsible for any such disclosure, they commit an offence, and when charged and found guilty can be liable to pay a maximum fine of $500,000 or to a maximum of six months imprisonment, or to both.

The Act also provides that no action of any kind can be taken against you for making a report in good faith to the Children’s Registry, even if after it is investigated, it is found that the child is not in a situation of physical or psychological harm.

So should make your report as soon as possible, knowing that you are performing your legal duty as a citizen of Jamaica and  that you are doing so in the interest and for the protection of the child with the full protection of the law.  Once you make your report to the Registry, they must assess it and investigate it because they have to satisfy themselves that the child is safe, and if your report shows that he/she is indeed being beaten every day, they must act to protect the child and to prosecute the parent or adult having the care and control of the child and who has been beating the child every day, causing undue suffering and agony to that child.

The law imposes on you and all adult persons in Jamaica to act and make reports of actual or possible abuses of children in their best interests, and for their pain-free welfare and development.

Please make your report. Call the CPFSA or send an e-mail or attend in person at 48 Duke Street, Kingston, or any of their other offices.

Margarette Macaulay

Margarette May Macaulay is an attorney-at-law, Supreme Court mediator, notary public, and women’s and children’s rights advocate. Send questions to allwoman@jamaicaobserver.com. All responses are published. Mrs Macaulay does not provide personal responses.