CPFSA mourns ‘child protection stalwart’ Blaine

The Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA) expressed deep sadness at the passing of children's rights stalwart Betty-Ann Blaine.

The founder of the activism-based organisation Hear the Children Cry (HCC), also served multiple terms on the CPFSA's advisory board, where she contributed to the development of the agency. CEO of the CPFSA Laurette Adams Thomas said that Blaine was a "child protection stalwart with a warm, yet indomitable spirit" and had "left a legacy of championing the rights of Jamaican children that will not soon be forgotten".

"Ms Blaine was no stranger to the CPFSA, as she was the founder of Hear the Children's Cry, a long-standing partner of the agency through our joint participation in the Ananda Alert System," Adams Thomas said in a release. "Hear the Children's Cry was integral in the renaming of the Ananda Alert System from its former name, the Red Alert System, and would have also influenced policy changes which resulted in the wait time to report a child going missing, moving from 24 hours, to an immediate report."

She noted that while HCC was not a signatory to the original Ananda Alert System memorandum of understanding in 2013, it was through Blaine's dedication to protecting Jamaican children that HCC became an integral part of the system, by providing psycho-emotional intervention to children who had gone missing as well as to their families.

"The CPFSA stands solemnly with the Hear the Children's Cry family in this their time of grief, while also remembering fondly Ms Blaine's all-encompassing devotion and commitment to improving the lives of Jamaica's children," Adams-Thomas said.