It's not all that long ago when the only thing the Government seemed able to do was to throw children with behavioural disorders into poorly equipped "reform schools" after parents reported that they could no longer control their offspring.

Last week, the State-run Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA) grabbed — with both hands, rightly so — the therapeutic centre opened at Maxfield Park Children's Home in St Andrew.

The facility represents a hopeful promise for handling one of Jamaica's most debilitating troubles, by delivering a programme aimed at effective screening, assessment, and therapeutic treatment for children exhibiting behavioural challenges.

CPFSA says the therapeutic treatment centre will provide vital services, such as residential in-patient programmes, a day treatment programme, and outpatient counselling and psychotherapy services to children with special needs and their families from all parishes.

"The centre, it is promised, will be equipped with the latest technologies and will be staffed by highly trained professionals "who are dedicated to providing the best possible care for their young patients".

CDB is also financing the training of 27 social workers and another 161 caregivers from 48 State homes islandwide in first-aid, fire safety, supervision management, conflict management, and basic counselling skills.

It is estimated that the centre will benefit 4,491 Jamaican children in State homes, places of safety, and foster care, as well as youngsters in need of psychosocial or mental health intervention. Additionally, 16,000 children and/or families who access the services of the CPFSA on an annual basis will benefit.

We know for sure that far too many Jamaican children are bedevilled by mental and behavioural disorders that parents can't handle and governments barely. As far back as 2014 a study of 1,185 adolescents in Jamaica found that approximately 15 per cent displayed depression and anxiety symptoms, according to the Caribbean Policy Research Institute (CAPRI).

A later survey in 2019 found that 45 per cent of adolescents in Jamaica had consistently experienced anxiety symptoms ranging from feelings of nervousness, restlessness, worry, and annoyance.

The situation was compounded by the 60 per cent of children in State care who exhibit psychosocial problems, and 76 per cent who exhibit social withdrawal, aggression, suicidal tendencies, and the like.

As a result of COVID-19 pandemic, which made things immensely worse, caregivers reported that their boys and girls experienced heightened levels of frustration (41 per cent), anxiety (23 per cent), clinginess (49 per cent), and fear (21 per cent), according to the 2021 Lasting Impact report by UNICEF and CAPRI. Faced with the estimated 160,000 children who need mental heath services, the health ministry has a mere 30 per cent of the staff needed to operate its 23 child guidance clinics.

This therapeutic centre, therefore, is most welcomed.

Nice work, CDB!

PRIME Minister Andrew Holness has said the newly constructed therapeutic treatment centre on the grounds of Maxfield Park Children's Home in St Andrew to serve children in State care with mental conditions is one plank of the Government's rescue mission to reduce the level of social violence and abuse in the country.

Speaking at the handing-over ceremony for the $200-million centre on Thursday, Holness, noting that the Government is targeting children in State care first, said "the cost of saving our children is significant".

He said the centre, which will provide mental health interventions to the more than 4,600 Jamaican children in State care needing those services, will also provide programmes designed to stop the cycle of abuse and violence against children.

"Overall, the project will benefit 4,500 children in State care and those in need of psychological and medical interventions. Additionally, the project will benefit 16,000 children and their families who will access the services of the CPFSA (Child Protection and Family Services Agency) on an annual basis," the prime minister said.

He, however, noted that while the centre — which will be operated by the CPFSA — is "a big deal", there was no escaping the existing gaps in mental health services for children.

"The Caribbean Policy Research Institute (CAPRI) in 2021 estimated that of the number of Jamaican children who are able to access mental health services only eight per cent of their needs are being met. Jamaica's children are in need of more and more available specialised and consistent mental health services. We are way behind in this area, so this move is even more important," Holness said.

"We have far more to do as a Government and as a people because addressing this serious problem is a matter both for the State and for the people," he said.

The Administration, he said, was also working on the legislative framework for children in need of care and protection.

"In this particular case I think we need to make changes urgently because the suffering is real and the impact is immediate," Holness said, noting that amendments are being made to legislation relating to children to improve their welfare.

Education Minister Fayval Williams, in her remarks, said the entity was an important development in the provision of services for children who might have been the victims of abuse, psychological trauma or who have been hauled before the courts for behavioural issues.

"The data the CPFSA compiles have been flashing warning signs that our children are experiencing unprecedented levels of trauma and abuse in home and community environments, and that our children are being witnesses to domestic and community violence," the education minister said.

"Too many of our children are being subjected to the kind of stress we associate with adulthood and we know that when this stress is introduced into a child's world so early on it can take root and it does damage which then manifests into all kinds of undesirable behaviour as that child grows into adulthood," she added.