Children’s rights and services organisation Hear The Children’s Cry (HTCC) has launched a drive to maintain its critical services and expand its outreach across Jamaica as it marks its 20th anniversary.

HTCC has given those concerned about the challenges faced by children here in Jamaica, an opportunity to contribute to the drive on the now active, Amber FundMe platform.

Aiming to raise J$15 million (US$100,000), those situated locally, in the diaspora or elsewhere, are currently able to contribute via the AmberFund Me website.

HTCC Founder and child’s rights advocate, Betty Ann Blaine, shared a few details about the platform.

“Jamaicans can now support local projects like our 20^th Anniversary Hear The Children’s Cry Drive without the challenges of using a foreign platform… ,” she said of Amber FundMe.

“Happily, our friends and family members abroad can also access this convenient way to support Jamaican charities. We urge Jamaicans to send our link to friends and family abroad while recommending our cause, as well as contributing themselves.”

Established in 2002, HTCC provides urgently needed services to children and youths including an islandwide Schools Safety Programme and positive parenting education outreaches, family counseling and community support, public education on child rights and needs, a Prevent-A-Dropout Programme, a special educational support initiative for formerly missing children and youth employment opportunities. 

Moneys raised from the Amber FundMe will go toward maintaining these services to aid the country’s missing children crisis through their Missing Children’s Support Programme.

This will be carried out in the form of transportation, supporting formerly missing children with school fees and school materials, the purchase of a mini-van for a on wheel counselling clinic, as well as refreshments and materials for parent-teacher meetings (PTA).

The Missing Children’s Support Programme was created in 2009 after the abduction of Ananda Dean in 2008.

“We established our Missing Children’s Support Programme in 2009, after the brutal abduction and murder of a child in one of our programmes, 11-year-old Ananda Dean, after whom the Ananda Alert is named – a Rapid Response system for missing and abducted children,” Blaine explained.

She continued: “Our organisation was instrumental in naming as well as helping to establish this local groundbreaking system. Alarmingly, the number of children reported missing in Jamaica remains very high, with an average of close to 100 cases recorded each month. We work with the police to track missing children reports, counsel families and returned children, analyse and interpret the statistics, and keep the public informed.”

Donations come to a close on the platform on December 1.