Michelle-Ann Letman, Gleaner Writer

Torrington Park residents, along with their children, took a stand against physical child abuse in a march from the Education Centre in Torrington Park to Cross Roads on Saturday. - Junior Dowie/Staff Photographer

Scores of children from the Torrington Park community came out on the weekend in support of a march against physical child abuse.

The children, along with their parents, marched from the Education Centre in the community to Cross Roads where a mini-concert was held.

The march is one of several activities that forms a part of a physical child abuse campaign - PSST (Protect, Stop, Seek, Talk).

PSST is hosted by the Forward Communicators, a group of students from the Caribbean Institute of Media and Communication based at the University of the West Indies, Mona.

Implementing the campaign

The Forward Communicators were welcomed into the Torrington Park community a month ago to implement their campaign.

The campaign, PSST, is aimed at encouraging persons in the community to speak out against physical child abuse or any other form of child abuse.

There is no statistical evidence to show that the Torrington Park community has a high incidence of physical child abuse. However, Rashida St Juste, public relations manager for the Child Development Agency (CDA), told The Gleaner that after consulting with the south- east regional arm of the CDA, they decided the Torrington Park community was a good area to target.

Two workshops have been held in the community as a part of the campaign.

"The campaign's workshops are aimed at providing alternatives to corporal punishment and informing parents of the Child Care and Protection Act," she said.

Isha Henry, vice-president for the Torrington Park Youth Action club, told The Gleaner that the community needed a change and that the implementation of the campaign was timely.

Henry said she had never witnessed physical abuse against a child in the community but had seen other examples of child abuse that were just as important.

"Children are often neglected and left at home in the nights, while their parents go out and party," she said.

"Parents need to recognise that this kind of behaviour is child abuse and it is irresponsible to leave a child unattended at home," Henry added.

Keneshia Nooks, public relations officer for the Forward Com-municators said, "The support from the community has been very good, both parents and children came out in their numbers to the two workshops and have responded well to the presentations."