Clifton Boys' Home in Westmoreland (Christopher Thomas/Gleaner photo)
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Reverend Hartley Perrin, Board Chairman of Clifton Boys' Home
The police and the Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA) are investigating allegations of physical abuse of wards of the state at the Clifton Boys' Home in Westmoreland.
A media release from the CPFSA on Wednesday said the agency received reports that wards were subjected to corporal punishment.
The matter was reported to the police.
The CPFSA said it has dispatched a team to assist with the operations of the home while the probe is in progress.
Additionally, a team of clinicians from the agency's psychology unit has been dispatched to provide counselling support to the wards.
The Clifton Boys' Home is a private facility licenced for a capacity of 35 boys aged seven to 18 years.
Reverend Hartley Perrin, Board Chairman of the boys' home, told Radio Jamaica News the matter was brought to his attention last week.
He said the member of staff implicated in the physical abuse of wards admitted that "on two but not more than three occasions he has had need to reprimand the boys using a piece of switch because they were disrespectful and not adhering to the rules of the home."
The chairman said the staff member as well as house mother have been suspended.
Reverend Perrin noted that a board meeting will be held Wednesday to discuss further actions to be taken at the facility. He said representatives of the CPFSA are manning the home until the investigation is complete or until the now vacant positions can be filled.
The board chairman said this is the first time that reports have surfaced about abuse at the institution.
He told Radio Jamaica News that the suspended employees have been at the boys' home for more than two decades, with the female superintendent of the home having an unblemished record until now.
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