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Child Month 2026 got underway on Friday (May 1) with a powerful morning of prayer, praise and bold declarations over Jamaica’s children.

Held at the Ministry of Education, Skills, Youth and Information’s Heroes Circle offices in Kingston, the Prayer and Praise Child Month Blastoff was highlighted by the symbolic release of balloons representing hope, healing, protection and the promise of a brighter future.

It was an opportunity for various stakeholders to come together to heighten efforts to address the well-being of children.

Senior Director of the Children’s Affairs and Policy Division, Hyacinth Blair, said that this year’s Child Month theme: ‘Prioritise our Children’s Mental Health: Strong Minds, Safer Future,’ is “particularly urgent as we support families still recovering from the displacement caused by Hurricane Melissa.”

Highlighting the slew of activities, she informed that the National Child Month Committee (NCMC) will be hosting a church service on May 3 at the Maranatha Gospel Hall, Deanery Road, Kingston.

The Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA) will launch season two of the Pickney Sense TV series on May 4, while Read Across Jamaica Day will be observed on May 5.

“On May 8, the Early Childhood Commission will host a ‘Mommy and Me’ poster competition and the Commission will also do a weekly parent and child shout out,” Ms. Blair informed.

May 15 will be recognised as National Children’s Day.

“This is a central day where we all celebrate our children and so, the Ministry is partnering with the Violence Prevention Partnership Programme and the Ministry of Health and Wellness to put on a Child Conversation Wellness Day,” Ms. Blair informed.

“We will be meeting at Spot Valley High School in Montego Bay [St. James], where we will have the wellness express bus. We will be providing psychosocial support to the children, not just at Spot Valley, but other children who are within the Zone of Special Operation (ZOSO) areas in that parish and we’ll also be unveiling a wellness bench at the school,” she detailed.

The NCMC will execute its Action Day project on May 15, which will feature the distribution of motivational stickers to children and the renovation of a guidance counselling room at a school.

Other activities for the month include a National Day of Prayer on May 20 at the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel in Kingston; a conversation with special needs children on May 21; a National Day of Prayer and Worship on May 27; and a National Child and Adolescent Mental Health Day on May 28.

On May 30, a ‘Praying and Playing’ event will be held at Black River High School in St. Elizabeth.

Ms. Blair said that the “child-led psychosocial outreach event is specifically for children in Westmoreland and St. Elizabeth, who have been affected by the hurricane.”