In war there is a phrase for people who are harmed even though they were never the target: collateral damage. I have come to believe it describes how many children experience public policy. Nobody sets out to hurt them. But decisions get made in offices far from their lives, and children absorb the impact.
I want to write about this carefully. This is not a post about any party or any politician. Governments, in Jamaica and around the world, include people who care deeply. My concern is with patterns: the way children's needs get treated as an afterthought, when they should come first.
Children don't have a seat at the table
Children cannot vote. They don't run campaigns or fund them. They can't take a day off work to sit in a public meeting. So when budgets are tight and choices are hard, the people with the least voice often get the least attention. Not out of malice, but out of obliviousness. And obliviousness, repeated year after year, does real damage.
What it looks like on the ground
During our month of service each year, we meet children whose lives carry the consequences of decisions they had no part in. Without pointing fingers, these are the patterns that concern me most, and they are patterns many countries struggle with:
- Schools stretched too thin. When schools are underfunded, it shows up in crowded classrooms, missing books, buildings in need of repair, and teachers who give everything and still can't reach every child. The children who most need extra help are the first to slip through.
- Health care that is hard to reach. A clinic that is too far away, a wait that is too long, or a cost a family can't afford can turn a simple problem into a lasting one. Dental pain, untreated illness and poor eyesight quietly steal a child's ability to learn.
- Mental health support out of reach. Children experience trauma, grief and anxiety just as adults do, but help for young people is often scarce. Too many children get labelled "bad" when they are actually hurting.
- Safety nets with gaps. Support programmes exist, but forms, requirements and travel can keep families from getting help. When a safety net has holes, children fall through first.
- Decisions made without asking who gets hurt. Fees, transport, timetables and budgets all shape whether a child gets to school fed, safe and on time. Too rarely does anyone stop to ask, "What will this mean for a child?"
The cost of looking away
When children pay for policy failures, they pay with things that are hard to get back: a year of learning, a healthy smile, a sense of safety, the belief that someone cares. And the nation pays too, because today's children are tomorrow's teachers, nurses, builders, entrepreneurs and leaders. A country that overlooks its children is borrowing against its own future.
“Policy changes slowly. Children grow up fast. Whatever happens this year, a child still needs lunch tomorrow.”
As a man of faith, I see this as a moral question, too. Jesus set a child in the middle of the crowd and told the grown-ups to pay attention. Scripture never lets us forget the vulnerable. Neither should we.
What ordinary people can do now
It is easy to feel powerless. We are not. Here is where each of us can start, at home and in the diaspora:
- Ask the question out loud. When leaders propose a budget, a fee or a programme, ask: how will this affect children? Write it, say it at meetings, post it. Make it normal to ask.
- Speak up, respectfully and persistently. Contact your representatives, wherever you live. Diaspora voices carry weight, both in the countries we live in now and back home.
- Back the people already doing the work. Teachers, churches, school boards, community groups and local organisations fill gaps every day. Volunteer, mentor, donate.
- Vote with children in mind. Whatever your politics, make children's welfare one of the questions you ask before you cast your ballot.
- Don't wait for policy to catch up. Policy changes slowly. Children grow up fast. Whatever happens this year, a child still needs lunch tomorrow.
Where United People of God fits
United People of God was never meant to replace good government. We exist because children can't wait. Each year our team serves an average of 110 children during our month on the ground, and we are building year-round support so the care doesn't end when we leave:
- Everyday needs: food, clothing, school supplies and feminine necessities.
- Learning and guidance: mentorship, tutoring and homework help.
- Health and wellbeing: dental care, medical care and therapy.
We also want to be a gathering place where people talk honestly about problems like these and work on them together. That is what "united" means to us.
If this stirred something in you, don't let it fade. Give from $10 a month so support continues all year. Join a trip and see the need with your own eyes. Or share this with someone whose voice leaders listen to. Children may be collateral damage of decisions they never made. Together, we can make sure they are never forgotten.
In faith and hope,
Leighton Campbell, Founder, United People of God
Keep the care going all year.
Give from $10 a month and unlock the members gallery, or join our next trip.
