Is the Ananda Alert system effective?
Published:Thursday | August 17, 2023 | 12:07 AM
THE EDITOR, Madam:
Approximately two weeks after Ananda Dean, 11, went missing on September 17, 2008, her body was found on a deep cliff. This is a ghastly example of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse against our children that led to the inception of the Ananda Alert system. The Ananda Alert system encourages citizens from all facets of society to alert the police in order to assist in the safe recovery of missing or abducted children.
Since then, between the years 2010 and 2020 alone, approximately 15,000 children, roughly half a per cent of Jamaica’s total population, have gone missing, according to reports from the Hear the Children’s Cry organisation. What fraction of those 15,000 children were fortunately returned back to their families without a scratch? Are we certain that our children are truly kept safe from assailants, under our watchful eye nowadays?
To put things into perspective, data collected by the Child Protection & Family Services Agency (CPFSA) revealed that between the years 2017 and 2021, some 6,686 children were reported missing. Of that figure, 5,106 children have since been located, of which females accounted for 78.6 per cent.
The CPFSA reported further that 893 children went missing, of which 425 – or 47.6 per cent – were located in 2021.
I surmise that, using the above example, the current odds are there is a less than 50 per cent chance of locating a child who goes missing.
To make this initiative truly successful parents, teachers, and law-abiding citizens must keep close to their children, and constantly remind them of the lurking dangers on the streets at certain hours.
Let’s help to stop the disruption and breakdown of future families today and now. It takes a village to raise a child; and a nation to protect one.
DUJEAN EDWARDS