SEEMINGLY surprised by a call by members of the Opposition on Tuesday for a delay in the debate on the proposed amendment to the Child Care and Protection Act (CCPA), Minister of Education and Youth Fayval Williams has again sought to get buy-in for the planned changes.

Williams also sought to provide clarity to civil society organisations and child rights advocates which on Tuesday called on members of both Houses of Parliament to exercise caution in considering the amendment.

“The issue that the amendment to the Child Care and Protection Act is seeking to deal with is in fact those children who are brought before the court by their parent or guardian and they are deemed uncontrollable. That’s the subset of children,” said Williams during an unscheduled presentation during the weekly post-Cabinet media briefing at Jamaica House on Wednesday.

“Way before that, the CPFSA (Child Protection and Family Services Agency) intervenes in the lives of thousands of children who do not make it into the court system. So it is that subset of children whose parents bring them before the court for whatever reason. They feel that…the child is out of control, whatever the reasons,” said Williams as she underscored that at present the courts send children deemed uncontrollable into penal institutions.

“The amendment to Section 24 is to give options for the child to be received in therapy whether on a non-residential basis…We are also providing, for those cases where you have chronic behavioural issues, where the intervention needs to be longer…that child will need to be in a different physical setting,” added Williams, who last week appeared to expect the amendment to sail through the legislative process since members of both sides of the House had previously signalled their agreement with the change.

But in Parliament on Tuesday, Opposition Leader Mark Golding, who indicated his general support for the planned amendment, said his team needed more time to review the details of it before discussions could be had.

Responding to Opposition in the House, Williams argued that what was being proposed were not significant or massive amendments that would need a prolonged time to be considered.

“This Act went through a significant joint select committee … that was in 2016, Madam Speaker, seven years ago. Do you know how many children have been hurt since then over the past seven years? Here we are now, we’re trying to change the environment … where children are not branded as being uncontrollable,” argued Williams even as she begrudgingly agreed to postpone the debate.

The decision to suspend the debate came hours after a number of organisations, led by Jamaicans for Justice, released an open letter to parliamentarians in which they said while they found the announcements by the Government to repeal the section and establish residential and non-residential therapeutic centres as a step in the right direction, they had serious concerns regarding the proposed amendments.

“Our main challenge is that there seems to be a substitution of language where the proposed amendments have sought to define the circumstances within which a child is currently deemed as ‘uncontrollable’ and ‘beyond parental control’,” the groups said.

“While removal of the language may reduce stigma and harm, by seeking to define behavioural challenges, the proposed amendments maintain deprivation of liberty as the way to respond to children who are experiencing normal reactions to child and adolescent development, mental health challenges and traumatic stress. Further, the amendments will likely disproportionately affect children from low-income families and place them in an institution for a broad range of reasons,” added the groups.