Families in Crisis

Today's Midday Prayers (25 September 2024) speaks to us about peace and conflict. It is therefore a challenge to me that during this week I saw another viral video of a mother verbally abusing her child on social media. This video comes on the heels of the recent announcement by the Government that Jamaica's birth rate has fallen below the levels which will ensure economic stability.

Noted attorney, Khadine Hylton opined that rather than focus on why women are not having children, the Government should instead focus on the whole family. I agree with her.

Many of the persons who have posted on social media about the viral video are of one accord condemning the mother for the words that she used to her child. The agency tasked with caring for children in these situations has removed the child from the home.

A psychologist from the agency tasked with child protection has quite correctly pointed out the level of psychological harm that can be attributed to a child who experiences this type of abuse. This child can, without intervention, and a change in circumstances, develop anti social behaviour, become abusers themselves, and regress mentally. We agree with those findings.

However, one thing that struck me from the video and the transcript of the words used by the mother towards her child, is the anger that the mother has expressed towards the father of the child. The anger no doubt stems from the fact that he is absent in the care of his child and this has led the mother to her feelings of frustrations. Her life as she knows it has changed, and to her mind, not for the better, as not only have her dreams been vanquished, but she is left to care for a child on her own. As Ms. Hylton said, in order for us to look at why women are not having children, we also need to look at the family as a whole.

The Mothers' Union through its Parenting Programme has to take the lead on this when it comes to intervention. We need to work more closely with the Government (social services) to establish parenting sessions within communities. These groups should be small and focused on listening to parents and offering prayerful guidance and support.

It is easy for us to sit behind our computers or in our church pews and bemoan the bad parenting skills of parents, but what are we doing about it?

Today, we will meet to celebrate the life and work of Margaret Williams, a pioneer in the Mothers' Union in this Diocese. Margaret saw a need in her church community to establish the Mothers' Union. Today, with over 120 branches and over 1700 members, we need to be more proactive in the way we interact with families in crisis. We need to be present at prenatal sessions, antenatal sessions. We need to be there when women have just given birth to speak to both parents and offer prayer and support.

For the last 3 years our theme has been Transformation. We were tasked with transforming ourselves, our church and our communities. Have we done so? For the next 3 years it will be about Join Us and Join In. This will be a perfect opportunity for us to think of ways of having other organisations join with us or join in with us with our various social projects.

Esther 4:14 says For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?

Members this is our time.