Fi We Children Foundation is a registered, youth-led, non-partisan NGO in Jamaica. We push for safer schools, fair rules and a say for young people in the decisions that shape their lives.
Protect us. Don't ban us.
Help a Child Learn
Since 2019 we have spoken up when Jamaica's systems fail children: in classrooms, at the school gate, online and in the justice system. Children are citizens today, not someday.
Fi We Children Foundation is a registered youth-led, non-partisan, non-governmental organisation promoting social justice for Jamaican children and youth since 2019. We were founded at the University of the West Indies, Mona.
Our young advocates research policy, write to Parliament and the press, train students and teachers, and refer child rights complaints to the authorities who can act on them.
Our work rests on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and Jamaica's Child Care and Protection Act. We work across party lines and judge every policy by one test: is it in the best interests of the child?
From hair and grooming lockouts to bullying, school violence, PATH lunch allocations and social media rules, we bring children's own voices into national debates.
Anti-violence interventions, conflict resolution and an anti-bullying law that protects children beyond awareness weeks.
Ending lockouts and graduation bans over grooming rules that discriminate against Black hair.
Due process in detention, legal safeguards for children recruited by gangs, and diversion over punishment.
A real online safety framework, shaped with young people, instead of blanket social media bans.
Teaching youth to read the national budget, track CDF projects and hold MPs to account.
Fair PATH lunch allocations, school gardens and limits on junk food marketing near schools.
Faster learning assessments, textbook relief and literacy support so no child is left behind.
Protecting children after Hurricane Melissa: child labour, displaced students and dignity in media coverage.
Age-appropriate sexuality education, youth-friendly health services, and a close-in-age exception so teens are guided, not criminalised.
Police and emergency services, any time of day.
Child Protection and Family Services Agency. Toll-free.
Send details using our Child Rights Complaint Form. You can stay anonymous. We refer actionable matters to the right authority.
A free chat line for young people aged 16–24, run with the Ministry of Health & Wellness. Text SUPPORT to U-Report on WhatsApp or SMS at 876-838-4897, or message @ureportjamaica on Instagram or Facebook.
A registered youth-led, non-partisan, non-governmental organisation promoting social justice for Jamaican children and youth. We were founded in 2019 at the University of the West Indies, Mona.
No. FWCF is a youth-led NGO. Young people lead our advocacy, research and programmes, and we work for children's rights rather than giving handouts.
No. We are non-partisan. We judge every policy by the evidence and by whether it serves the best interests of the child.
Anyone passionate about child and youth rights in Jamaica. Members join monthly online meetings and at least one project each month. Applications are open year-round.
Yes. We offer Mek Wi Reason conflict resolution visits and help schools set up ADR Clubs. Email info@fiwechildren.org to request a visit.
If a child is in immediate danger, call 119 first, then the CPFSA on 211. You can also use our Child Rights Complaint Form, in your own name or anonymously. Matters involving a child aged 0–18 years may be actioned by our Legal Team, and we refer actionable matters to the right authority.
Yes. You may use them for non-commercial education as long as you credit Fi We Children Foundation as the source.
Our programmes put young people at the centre: in schools, in their communities and in the national budget. Every programme comes with free materials you can use.
Peer mediation, restorative practice and de-escalation for students aged 13–18.
Our flagship ADR Club at Charlie Smith High School trains a new cohort of peer mediators each school year, under adult supervision and within Ministry of Education safety protocols.
Youth for fiscal justice and accountability, ages 15–30.
Six modules take young people from "what is the budget?" to tracking CDF projects, filing Access to Information requests and questioning their MP with evidence.
Islandwide volunteer tutors for students aged 9–18, online or in person.
Help a Child Learn matches caring members of the public with students who need extra support with PEP, CSEC or CAPE. Tutor online from anywhere, or in person in your own community.
Tell us about yourself and what you can teach. We will contact shortlisted applicants for an interview. All tutors must complete a background check and commit to 60 volunteer hours.
Tell us when a child's rights have been breached at home, at school, online, in state care or in the justice system. You can report in your own name or anonymously. We review every complaint and refer actionable matters to the authority that can act on them.
Matters must involve a child aged 0–18 years for the complaint to be actioned by our Legal Team. If the person is older, you can still write to us and we will point you to the right help.
If a child is in danger, call 119 or the CPFSA on 211 now.
How Fi We Children Foundation collects, uses and protects personal data under Jamaica's Data Protection Act, 2020.
Fi We Children Foundation (FWCF) is a registered youth-led, non-partisan, non-governmental organisation promoting social justice for Jamaican children and youth. We were founded in 2019 at the University of the West Indies, Mona.
FWCF is the Data Controller for personal data collected through fiwechildren.org and through our programmes, complaint referrals and membership. Our address is 2 Castries Drive, Kingston 7, Jamaica.
We have a Data Protection Officer who handles privacy questions, requests and complaints. Write to info@fiwechildren.org with the subject line "Data Protection" and it will go to them.
This notice explains what personal data we collect, why, who we share it with, how long we keep it and the rights you have under the Data Protection Act, 2020.
We only collect what we need. We collect it when you fill in a form on this website, email or call us, join FWCF, take part in a programme, apply for a role or donate.
| When | What we collect |
|---|---|
| Child Rights Complaint Form | If you are not anonymous: your name, email, phone and how to reach you. Always: who is making the complaint; the child's age, parish and (if you choose) first name or initials; the school or institution; what happened; whether legal representation is requested. |
| Partner With Us form | Organisation, contact name, role, email, phone and your message. |
| Help a Child Learn tutor application | Name, contact details, age range, parish and community, occupation, qualifications, subjects and levels you can tutor, availability, experience, two referees, and your agreement to an interview and background check. |
| Membership form | The details asked for on the membership form, such as name, contact details, age range, parish and interests. |
| Mailing list | Your email address and name, if you give it. |
| Vacancies | Your CV, cover letter, contact details and work samples. |
| Donations | For bank transfers: your name, amount and the bank reference. PayPal donations are handled by PayPal; we receive your name, email and the amount. |
| Programmes and school visits | Names, schools, ages or grades, attendance and feedback forms, and photos or video only with consent. |
| Visiting the website | Anonymous visit counts (page, country, browser type, screen size). We do not use advertising or tracking cookies. See Cookies. |
Much of our work is about children, so we take extra care with their information.
Under the Data Protection Act we must have a lawful reason to process personal data. These are the reasons we rely on:
| Purpose | Legal basis |
|---|---|
| Reviewing child rights complaints, deciding if our Legal Team can act, and referring matters to the right authority | Your consent; protecting the vital interests of a child; and, for sensitive data, establishing or defending legal rights |
| Providing legal representation where requested and accepted | Your consent and taking steps at your request (contract) |
| Managing membership, volunteers and programme participants | Consent (parent or guardian consent for children) and our legitimate interests in running FWCF |
| Sending our mailing list and updates | Consent. You can unsubscribe at any time. |
| Recruitment | Taking steps at your request before a volunteer or work agreement |
| Recording donations and keeping accounts | Legal obligation |
| Responding to partnership enquiries | Legitimate interests |
| Counting website visits to improve the site | Legitimate interests (no personal data is collected) |
Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time. This does not affect anything we did before you withdrew it. We do not use personal data for automated decision-making or profiling, and we never sell personal data.
Some of our service providers store data on servers outside Jamaica, including in the United States. When data leaves Jamaica, we only use providers that give adequate protection for personal data, as the Data Protection Act requires, or we rely on your consent.
We keep personal data only as long as we need it for the reason we collected it, or as long as the law requires.
| Record | How long |
|---|---|
| Complaints | While the matter is open, then 7 years after it closes or until the child turns 25, whichever is later. Longer if there are legal proceedings. |
| Partnership enquiries | 3 years after our last contact |
| Members and volunteers | While you are a member, then 2 years |
| Mailing list | Until you unsubscribe |
| Job and volunteer applications | 12 months if you are not selected |
| Donation records | 7 years, for accounting and tax |
After that, we securely delete it or make it anonymous. Anonymous information may be kept for research and reporting.
Under the Data Protection Act, 2020 you have the right to:
A parent or guardian can use these rights on behalf of a child. Some rights have limits, for example where sharing the data would put a child at risk or where the law requires us to keep it. If so, we will explain why.
Email info@fiwechildren.org with the subject "Data Protection Request", or write to the Data Protection Officer, Fi We Children Foundation, 2 Castries Drive, Kingston 7.
We may ask you to confirm who you are before we act. We will respond within 30 days.
If you made a complaint anonymously, we cannot link it to you, so we may not be able to find or change it.
If you are unhappy with how we have handled your data, please contact us first so we can try to put it right. You also have the right to complain to the regulator:
Office of the Information Commissioner
2nd Floor, The Masonic Building
45–47 Barbados Avenue, Kingston 5
Telephone: (876) 920-4390
Our website links to other sites, such as news outlets, Instagram, PayPal and government websites. We are not responsible for their privacy practices. Please read their privacy notices.
We review this notice regularly. Any changes will be posted on this page with a new "Last updated" date.
Last updated: 31 October 2026
Ages 13–25 anywhere in Jamaica, ready to champion children's rights in your community. Email your cover letter and résumé to info@fiwechildren.org.
Bring a Mek Wi Reason conflict resolution session or an ADR Club to your school. Teachers, guidance counsellors and principals can request a visit by email.
We recruit Attorneys-at-Law to support our child protection and advocacy work on a voluntary basis. Follow us for the next call.
Follow for updatesPlus $1,500 JMD monthly dues for outreach and operations. Attend monthly online meetings and join at least one project each month.
A one-time commitment to child and youth rights in Jamaica. Apply by email.
For organisations partnering on advocacy, research and national projects. Apply by email.
Members gain hands-on experience in child rights advocacy, policy research, youth development and community outreach. Applications are open year-round.
Government is drafting a national policy on young people's use of social media. We wrote to the Ministers of Health and Wellness and of Education, Skills, Youth and Information. Add your name so they hear from the young people this policy is for.
Signing closes Friday 20 November 2026 at 10:00 a.m. (Jamaica time)
All 1,027 people in the Ministry of Health and Wellness survey were adults. Not one young person was asked. This is a gross error: the policy will affect youth and is intended for youth. We want a seat at the table, and our request to join the Working Group has fallen on deaf ears.
Signing closes Friday 20 November 2026 at 10:00 a.m.
You're signing FWCF's open letter to Minister Tufton, Minister of State Lee, Minister Morris Dixon and Minister of State Moy Crawford. It asks Government to:
Signatures closed on Friday 20 November 2026 at 10:00 a.m. Thank you to every young person who added their name. Follow us to see what happens next.
Now get your friends to sign too. The more young people sign, the harder this is to ignore.
2 November 2026
Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, MPMinister of Health and Wellness
Hon. Krystal Lee, MPMinister of State, Ministry of Health and Wellness
Senator Dr. the Hon. Dana Morris DixonMinister of Education, Skills, Youth and Information
Hon. Rhoda Moy Crawford, MPMinister of State, Ministry of Education, Skills, Youth and Information
cc: Dr. the Hon. Andrew Wheatley, MPChair, Working Group on minors' social media use, Office of the Prime Minister
Dear Ministers,
We read the survey. And honestly? We agree with a lot of it.
Online harm is real. Cyberbullying, grooming, sextortion, scrolling at 2 a.m. when there's school in the morning. Plenty of us have lived it. So when 90% of Jamaicans say Government should act, we are not against that. We want you to act.
We are asking you not to choose the option that sounds simple and does not work: a blanket social media ban for everyone under 16.
Dr. Stephen Johnson, who led the study, said about 80% of Australian minors are still online after Australia's ban. A ban does not log us off. It sends us to secret accounts, where it is harder to ask an adult for help when something goes wrong.
Youth were not consulted in this study. All 1,027 people surveyed were adults. Not one young person was asked. This is a gross error. This policy will affect youth, and it is intended for youth. Ministers, we want a seat at the table. Our request to join the Working Group has fallen on deaf ears.
Minister Tufton, you said it best: "No government policy can replace active parenting." We would add: no ban can replace a safer internet.
The goal should not be to keep us off the internet. It should be to make the internet safer for us.
We are ready to help build it. Let's talk.
Respectfully,
Jamaican Youth
through Fi We Children Foundation
Schools, NGOs, businesses, funders and government agencies can work with FWCF on advocacy, research, school programmes and national projects. Tell us about your organisation and we'll be in touch.
Letters to the editor, Letters of the Day, opinion columns and In Focus pieces written by Fi We Children Foundation and our members, as published in The Gleaner. New pieces are added here automatically.
Want to write for FWCF? Members can pitch a letter or opinion piece to info@fiwechildren.org.
Your donation supports FWCF's advocacy, school programmes and outreach for Jamaican children and youth.
Give any amount securely by card or PayPal balance.
PayPal: @fiwechildrenja
After your transfer, please email info@fiwechildren.org so we can thank you and confirm we received it.
Read or download Jamaica's key laws on children's rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, free from their official sources.
Jamaica's supreme law, made in 1962 by the Jamaica (Constitution) Order in Council. Chapter III set out the fundamental rights and freedoms of every person in Jamaica, children included (since replaced by the 2011 Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms).
Replaced Chapter III of the Constitution in 2011 with the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms. It protects the rights of every person in Jamaica, including every child's right to protection as a minor and to publicly funded tuition at the pre-primary and primary levels.
Jamaica's main law on the care and protection of children, including the duty to report abuse, children in state care and children in the justice system.
Lets children who come into conflict with the law be steered away from the courts and into diversion programmes that focus on rehabilitation.
Defines sexual offences, including offences against children, and sets up Jamaica's Sex Offender Registry.
Makes it a crime to use a child to produce child pornography, or to produce, distribute, possess or access it, and protects the identity of child victims.
Gives every child equal status in law, whether or not their parents were married.
Sets out who inherits, including children, when a person dies without a will.
The Full Court of the Supreme Court considered whether a primary school's rule against locked hair breached a child's rights under the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms. The Court found that the child's constitutional rights had not been breached. This decision was partly overturned on appeal in 2024 (below).
The appeal from the Full Court decision. The Court of Appeal declared that the school's policy on dreadlock hairstyles breached the child's right to freedom of expression and her right to equitable treatment by a public authority. The rest of the Full Court's findings were upheld.
The rights every child has under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, explained in child-friendly language. Jamaica is a party to the Convention.
Jamaica's laws are from the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (children's version) is from UNICEF. This is general information, not legal advice. Need help with a child rights concern? Get help now.
Free, ready-to-use materials from our programmes. Use them in classrooms, clubs and at home for non-commercial education, crediting Fi We Children Foundation as the source.
FWCF's policy paper on the PCOA's inspection of nine CISOCA facilities, which found only 2 with confidential interview rooms, 69% of personnel without specialised training, a doctor on call at just 1 centre and 8 centres without a working vehicle. It sets out eight reforms, from national facility standards and mandatory training to a national rollout of One-Stop Victim Centres, with an implementation matrix.
Share this paper: fiwechildren.org/CISOCA
FWCF's alternative report on Jamaica's record under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. It looks at child justice reform, support for children in conflict with the law, alternatives to detention, violence against children and corporal punishment, and calls for a focus on implementation and measurable outcomes for children.
Share this report: fiwechildren.org/HRC2026
For approved tutors only. Help a Child Learn materials may only be used after FWCF has interviewed you and your background check is complete. New to HaCL? Apply to tutor first.
Fill these in on screen or print them. Email completed forms to info@fiwechildren.org with “HaCL” and your name in the subject line.
Log every tutoring session: date, start and end times, hours, online or in person, students' initials and the topic covered, with a running total towards your 60 hours. Your placement contact initials each session and signs at the end. Send it to FWCF at the end of each month.
Tutors arrange their own placement. Once you have found a school, organisation, group or family to tutor with, use this form to tell FWCF where you will tutor, who your placement contact is, what the students need and your tutoring plan, and to agree to our child safeguarding rules.
Complete this when you finish your 60 hours. Record your total hours and sessions, each student's progress, what your students achieved, a story of change and your feedback on the programme. Attach your signed timesheets.
Our Mek Wi Reason and Eyes Pon Di Budget toolkits, curricula and the Youth Charter are being finalised. They will be available here once approved.
Join a youth-led team standing up for Jamaican children and youth. All roles below are voluntary positions. The Executive Director may receive a small stipend for project-based programmes, depending on funding. Read the Terms of Reference, then send your application by email before the deadline.
Keep fiwechildren.org up to date and secure. Publish FWCF's statements, news and vacancies, keep the site's SSL certificate active, and make sure the website complies with Jamaica's Data Protection Act.
To apply, email a cover letter, CV and a link to (or screenshots of) a website you have built or managed to info@fiwechildren.org with the subject "Web Administrator – [Your Name]".
Lead FWCF's policy research and advocacy. Track laws and policies affecting children, write briefs, submissions and press statements, and bring young people's voices into national debates.
To apply, email a cover letter, CV and a two-page writing sample to info@fiwechildren.org with the subject "Policy & Advocacy Officer – [Your Name]".
Lead FWCF's day-to-day management. Manage the Executive Committee, the Youth Policy Committee and general members, lead public relations and policy work, and submit a monthly report to the Executive Founder. Requires a law degree (Attorney-at-Law preferred), NGO executive management or policy experience (3 years), and strong child rights knowledge. Strictly non-partisan.
To apply, email a cover letter, CV and two referees to info@fiwechildren.org with the subject "Executive Director – [Your Name]".
Statements, opportunities, school programmes and youth forums, straight to your inbox. Sign up with your name and email address. It takes a few seconds.
Join a youth-led team standing up for Jamaican children and youth. Fill in this form and we will email you next steps, including how to pay your membership fee.
