Dad wants counselling for runaway child

Greenwich Town, St Andrew, resident Jeffery Walker says he had many sleepless nights, after his 12-year-old son Javoy ran away from home, leaving him in tears.

Overwhelmed with emotions, Walker made an appeal on social media for his son to return home and sought the public's assistance in locating him. On Saturday afternoon, his prayers were answered when community members found the boy in a nearby community. But though breathing a huge sigh of relief, Walker said he is seeking professional intervention for the youngster.

"Mi want little help with him because mi know as mi carry him go school him gonna go again. Hurricane a come and mi want him in here with me, inna the little piece a house here and mi nago make nutten happen to him," he said. Walker stated that approximately three weeks ago, he accompanied his son to school, but when the boy returned home, he abruptly left.

"All the while he has been doing it but him usually stay in the community and hide because him don't want to go to school. More time a mi carry him to school so mi ensure say him go inside. Even him teacher dem will tell you that I am a trying father," he said, a sentiment residents echoed. Walker said that after his son ran away from home, he sank into depression.

"It was terrible, eno ,man and mi nuh get any sleep. Everybody in the community a try to find him but I don't know what my son want as mi try to give him everything. He is just 12 years old which means that him not responsible for himself and can't stop go school. Him can't feel mi ago proud a that because mi want him come out to something good," Walker said.

"Him was on PATH and dem take him off because him don't come school often although mi send him go school every day. The teacher dem always call mi when him nuh turn up. A coal mi sell some time fi send him go school and mi walk all go Red Hills Road fi work just because mi give him the money that mi have to go school. Sometimes mi feel good to see the youth dem a come from school, eno, but feel sad because my own refuse to go when mi send him," Walker added.

In March, the boy's mother, Donna Legister, died in an arson attack at the Black River Market in St Elizabeth. His grandmother with whom he lived in Greenwich Farm also passed away last month. But Walker said Javoy has been disobedient before those occurrences.

"Mi have people talk to him like police and soldier and mi carry him to a place at Duke Street to get counselling but mi never carry him back because I don't want them to take my son away from mi," he said.

As Walker spoke with the news team, he kept a close eye on Javoy who stood a few footsteps away. The boy's bright eyes appeared sad. He told THE STAR that he aspires to become a soldier but admitted to not attending classes.

"When mi come home mi just sit dung or go pon mi laptop. Mi nah go run away again," said the boy, who explained where he was after he left home.

"Dung a town mi did deh. Mi meet a man and him say him a mi stepfather and him a show mi picture with mi and mi mother," Javoy said.

Currently, the Walkers live in a dilapidated one-bedroom board dwelling. Yesterday, Walker tried to secure some of their belongings from the warpath of incoming Hurricane Melissa, but he stated that their roof leaks badly whenever it rains. He said he longs to provide a better roof over their heads, adding that he would be extremely grateful for one of the New Social Housing Programme dwellings.

"Mi have land can put it on in St Thomas. Is a lot of people live in the yard where we live but the property don't belong to us and we are given until February to leave. I would want something better for me and my son. It would be more convenient for him, eno. Mi still a try," Walker said.