Advocate wants parents to remain alert despite COVID concerns

Hear The Children's Cry founder Betty-Ann Blaine is imploring parents to be more vigilant in monitoring the movement of their children online during the COVID-19 pandemic.

She stated that data shows 33 Jamaican children went missing between March 10 and April 1 and although 18 have returned home, she is extremely concerned about their online activities.

"Nowadays the children sometimes have unlimited access to the Internet and unfortunately this is a plus for predators who are waiting to lurk on them. While we are not sure of any particular case where a child has been lured during this time, there are a lot of children who went missing during this period. And while some of them are missing, the question is where are they and where are the rest," she said.

"Advocates worldwide have been warning about a serious increase in danger to children at home from at least 300,000 online pedophiles," she added.

Main focus

Blaine stated that with the deadly coronavirus being the island's main focus, proper parenting was essential.

"Children are not supposed to be moving around freely on the road at this time ... I am really concerned about their well-being. We have to remember that the police have their hands full now dealing with the virus so you may not get a proper investigation done if a child should go missing," she said.

Blaine said she is awaiting new data from the police as it relates to missing children, and is hoping that there will be a 'true' decline in the figures.

"I really want to be sure that the numbers are down because that is really the case, and not because they are not being reported missing," she said.

Blaine was also concerned about how persons can report a missing child if it's past the curfew time.

"It's hard to get through to the police emergency numbers and you are not supposed to drive out or walk, and public transportation does not run after curfew hours. Waiting until it's morning is not safe because if a child is abducted, the first set of hours are crucial," Blaine explained. "For instance, St Catherine is locked down. So how do they make reports? There are still a lot of questions that need answering," she said.