THE Seventh-day Adventist Church says given the current alarming rate of sexual and other types of abuse of children in Jamaica, it is putting measures in place as it relates to their protection of children through its department of children and adolescents.
A recent release from the church said with that in mind, a seminar titled ‘The Establishment of a Child Protection Policy (CPP)’ was held at the one of the church’s regional headquarters, in Kingston on April 24, 2018, where 52 administrators, pastors, teachers, and guidance counsellors were trained.
“Our main objective of the training is for us to be more active and proactive as it relates to the protection of our children. For far too long we have not been good at implementing the policies of our church and the laws of the country,” Dr Lorraine Vernal, who is the Family, Women and Children and Adolescent Ministries director of the Jamaica Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, is quoted as saying in the release.
According to the church, figures from the Office of the Children’s Registry show an upward trend in the number of cases reported for children, mainly female, who were sexually abused for the period 2007- 2015. The church said the figures moved from 121 in 2007 to 3,806 in 2015.
