A calling to serve - Mother’s journey inspires special needs support enterprise

What began as a mother’s struggle to secure financial support for her children has evolved into a growing enterprise dedicated to improving the lives of children with special needs.
For Anita Anderson, founder of Anderson Child Management Company, the journey has been shaped by personal experiences, faith, and an unwavering commitment to serving families.
A mother of four, including a child with lower-end autism and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Anderson first developed and copyrighted a family support receipt book for use in the family court. The receipt book allows parents to keep official records of court-ordered child maintenance payments, an idea born from her own challenges in seeking support from the father of two of her children.
Her life’s direction changed after witnessing a distressing encounter at the family court.
“Right away I looked on and I was distressed by how he responded to the child and I say to myself children need to be treated better,” Anderson said.
Determined to make a difference, she organised a parenting seminar despite having no prior experience. She enlisted trained professionals to serve as resource persons and soon found herself drawn deeper into child advocacy.
She recalled accidentally dialling the number of a visually impaired mother whose 12-year-old son had encouraged her to attend one of the seminars. That connection led to an invitation from the Jamaica School for the Blind to shadow two visually impaired students attending high schools in St Catherine.
“I was asked if I could shadow these students and I accepted without knowing where the resources would come from to finance the programme,” Anderson revealed.
So committed was she to the initiative that she used money earmarked for her own child’s school expenses to cover transportation costs while volunteers from her church assisted the students.
“After this was complete, I wasn’t sure what was next for me, so I was at home when the Lord spoke to me and said, faithfully you have sown and faithfully I am going to bless you with shadowing children.”
Another defining moment came after her application for a United States visa was denied.
“I wasn’t disappointed that I didn’t get the visa, but I questioned God, and the same night after the disappointment I felt a touch on my shoulder. Thinking it was my significant other, I got up, but he was sleeping,” she stated.
“This time I heard a voice saying ‘Wake up and start writing, get your pen and paper’,” she said, adding that she was reluctant to get up, but the voice told her, “If you wait you will not remember in the morning.”
That experience marked the birth of Anderson Child Management Company.
Today, just three years later, the company provides shadow teachers for more than 13 students with special needs across 13 schools in St Catherine and the Corporate Area and employs 13 specially trained staff members. It also offers a three-month certification programme in shadow teaching, customer service, and sign language.
“I am passionately about this programme, when it comes to me serving children and family, especially those with special needs, I am proud of me obeying the calling to do this, not just my obedience but my giving heart.”
She added, “For me it is not just about money but service and satisfying our clientele. It’s beyond money.”
The company has since expanded into caregiver and geriatric services. Anderson’s next goals are to establish an overnight daycare centre for children with special needs and a foundation to provide scholarships for students from low-income families.
ruddy.mathison@gleanerjm.com