Education ministry, child protection agency rubbish claims regarding lack of intervention following death of ‘Sunshine’

The Ministry of Education and Youth, and the Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA) are rubbishing claims made by the principal of the Comfort Castle Primary School in Portland, Dalmain Moore, that neither of the two entities made contact with or provided support to members of the school in the wake of the tragic passing of eight-year-old student Vinice 'Sunshine' Burke.

“Whenever a child passes away tragically, the ministry activates its various interventions to assist and support not only the students and faculty of the child's school, but also the family, as was the case with little Sunshine,” Fayval Williams, Minister of Education and Youth, said in a statement today.

Moore reportedly told mourners at Sunshine's funeral last week that “…I realised yet again we have been failed by the agents of the State…I have never seen any representative of any of those organisations who are brand-name to protect the children of this country…I have never seen any of them coming up to offer support, or even to investigate. Vinice was not living by herself and so I wonder about the level of investigation that went into this matter. I am also concerned about the level of investigation from the ministry of education. I can recall clearly that there was another incident of another eight-year-old child in St Ann that got the level of attention, and it begs the question: is it because of the locale why we are being treated this way?”

But in her statement today the education minister said, “Following Sunshine's tragic passing on Friday, September 22, 2023, a member of the ministry's Trauma Unit for that region contacted the principal of Comfort Castle Primary on Sunday, September 24, 2023 to offer condolences as well as to arrange a visit to the school by the Trauma Team for the next day.”

She continued, “This visit was hampered due to the prevailing weather conditions affecting accessibility to the school. However, a guidance counsellor from the neighboring Moore Town High School was sent to the school on Monday, September 25, 2023 to meet with the faculty and students. This was our first intervention into the matter.”

Minister Williams further said, “Following the ministry's intervention, the CPFSA also dispatched a team of first responders to meet with little Sunshine's family on Tuesday, September 26. A CPFSA investigator, along with a manager from the Victim Support Unit and police officers from the Portland Community Outreach department, visited the family and provided them with counselling.

“The ministry's Trauma Unit then went to the school the following Monday on October 2, 2023 to meet with the principal, faculty and students and offered counselling to them.”

Head of the CPFSA, Laurette Adams-Thomas, also stated that her agency provided the necessary interventions in this case.

“When tragic incidents like this occur, the CPFSA is quick to spring into action to ensure that all necessary interventions that can be attempted or provided are done. We grieve with the members of the family, the community of Comfort Castle and the students of the primary school regarding the untimely passing of this beam of Sunshine,” said Adams-Thomas.

“A follow-up visit also happened on Tuesday, October 24 by a CPFSA investigator who visited the school, spoke with the principal and enquired about the well-being of the children and teachers and offered support to them. The investigator also signed the school's log book and recorded her phone number and the phone number of the CPFSA's Portland Parish team leader.  She also gave both phone numbers to the principal for further follow up if needed.”

She added, “We will continue to offer whatever support that we can to the family, community and the school as they try to move forward from this very distressing loss.”

Minister Williams also noted that the work of the principal in the matter is as an agent of the education ministry, being employed as the principal and instructional leader. She said the principal acts on behalf of the ministry and has a responsibility to seek the assistance of the ministry where required.

“We trust the agency of our school leaders to do what is required and not to wait to see what happens. Our school leaders are difference-makers and we rely on them to stand for the ministry and mobilise needed resources,” Williams said.

The body of eight-year-old Sunshine was reportedly found with a plastic bag over her head at her home in Portland on Friday, September 22.

According to the police, the child was at home with her stepfather, after leaving school, when the incident occurred.

It is understood that the stepfather stated that he was in the front of the yard along with another man making a bed head when he saw Vinice outside without shoes with a plastic bag in her hand. According to the stepfather, he sent the girl back inside the house to put on her shoes.

It was reported that, when he did not hear from Sunshine, he went to check and saw the girl lying on the floor unresponsive with the plastic bag over her face and in a pool of urine. He reportedly made checks inside the house but he did not see anyone.

He took the child to the Port Antonio Hospital where she was pronounced dead.

Investigation into her death are ongoing, as results from the postmortem were inconclusive.

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