Advertisement

Worrying child abuse cases unpardonable

Whatever their operational deficiencies, the Department of Social Welfare (DSW) must be worried with the reports we are getting over extreme child abuses and looting of orphanages by the same people who are supposed to be offering care and love.

Making the headlines a fortnight ago was the revelation of serious child abuses and other malpractices at the Countryside Children’s Welfare Home at Awutu Bawjiase, a trusted orphanage until then, which had received donations from far and near to support the children.

Video

When I watched the tape on the abuses covered by investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas, and his team, I was astounded by the level of neglect and ill-treatment captured over the six-month period that Anas stayed at the home.

How could an orphanage that has enjoyed so much public largesse, from the construction of buildings to clothing, shoes, food items and other provisions, turn round to starve the needy children under their care?   How could toddlers walk around in soiled diapers for hours as if there were no carers in the home?

The revelations made in the video, from sex amongst inmates, teenage pregnancies, abortions, children forced to fast or eat gari and pepper, commercialisation of donated items, including food and clothing, improper health care administered by a Senior High School (SHS) graduate who calls himself a doctor and others, are too revolting to have escaped a watchful DSW.

Any lessons?

Since this is not the first time such distressing revelations are being made of a children’s orphanage, one would have expected that lessons would be learnt by DSW after the last revelations.  A similar abuse and looting of donations meant for the welfare of needy children at the Osu Children’s Home by Anas and his team not too long ago should have been a wake-up call to the welfare system.  

Unfortunately, it was not.   So here we are again with the fate of over 100 children hanging in the balance.  Did we have to get this far?

Sometimes we cannot blame institutions and individuals who refuse to give to such needy establishments for the simple reason that the intended beneficiaries never get to benefit from them.  The revelations are clear cases in point.

Education and child rights

And before we could fully digest the magnitude of the abuses and looting that have gone on at the Countryside Children’s Welfare Home, another child abuse case was making the headlines.  This time, it was a couple who had refused their five children access to education at Pig Farm, a suburb of Accra.

According to the story captured on the front page of the Daily Graphic issue of February 13, 2015, the children who were isolated from the community and denied access to education for the past three years were rescued by the police following a tip-off.

When questioned by the police, the couple cited financial constraints for their inability to enrol their children, aged between two and 11 years, in any of the private or public schools in the community.

We were told in the newspaper report that when the police referred the matter to DSW for advice, they in turn ordered the parents to enrol the children in a school within 12 days, saying their action infringed on the rights of their children.

Child welfare infringements

Unfortunately, there are many similar infringements that children of school age go through, some in the full glare of the public but which seem to be escaping DSW.

Visibly on the streets of Accra, for example, are children of school age who are selling water and lemon at the risk of getting knocked down by vehicles.  There are children, sometimes toddlers, who follow one parent or the other to the streets to beg for money.   

Children are playing truant from school, sometimes without the knowledge of their parents.  They are doing odd jobs, sometimes to help raise money towards the family’s upkeep.   All such infringements are public knowledge.  But how often do we see the DSW coming to the rescue of these children or giving the parents stern ultimatums to do the right thing.

Education welfare officers

By this time in the history of our education system, we should have welfare officers in schools and they should be in constant touch with both the school and the home, making referrals and follow-ups.  That alone is enough to minimise or uproot malpractices that infringe on child rights/welfare both at home and at the school.

The Department of Social Welfare may have its challenges but the rights of the people they are working to protect are super challenged.  Children’s rights and welfare are being battered and it will only need the watchful eye of an effective welfare system to save the situation.

 

[email protected]

Connect With Us : 0242202447 | 0551484843 | 0266361755 | 059 199 7513 |