Athaliah Reynolds, Staff Reporter

According to the Registrar General's Department (RGD), only about one per cent of its target audience has come forward in support of its recently launched 'Name the Child Project'.

The programme, which began early October, targets some 6,872 children born between September 1, 2004 and December 31, 2006, whose names do not appear in the RGD's birth records.

Patricia Holness, chief executive officer of the RGD, told The Gleaner that since last week, just about 50 parents had come forward to make use of the system.

"I suspect that the week of rain that we had affected the turnout in some way," Dr. Holness said.

'Numbers will increase'

She added that the few parents who did come forward were generally from various sections of the island. Despite the low turnout, however, the CEO is confident that the numbers will increase. "We know it's going to pick up," she said. "Usually most parents often turn up during the last week of the programme and that is what we expect will happen this time around."

According to Dr. Holness, in the past, similar projects have yielded some 40-60 per cent success. "What often happens is that the parents will turn up in weeks following the completion of the programme and we do accept them," she said.

Since Friday, October 5, the RGD has published several advertisements in The Gleaner, which list the names of mothers with children who were registered but did not have a name. The list indicates the full name of the mother and the date of the birth of the child, as well as the RGD location where the parents may visit to collect packages to complete the naming process.

During the duration of the project, the RGD has promised to waive the late entry of name fee of $2,100 and the only cost to the parents will be $500 for adding the names. An additional benefit of this initiative is that there is no additional charge if the father submits his particulars at the same time.

athaliah.reynolds@gleanerjm.com