77 Children abandoned in Accra within 15 months
Seventy-seven children between the ages of one and 14 were abandoned in Accra in 2013 and the first quarter of 2014.
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Out of this number, 32 have been sent to the Shelter for Abused Children at Osu, 24 to the Osu Children’s Home, while the rest have been reunited with their families.
The Social Welfare Officer in charge of the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU), Mr Churchill Darlington, who disclosed this to the Junior Graphic said most of the children abandoned had some form of disability.
He has, therefore, asked parents who have children but cannot cater for them to give them up for adoption rather than abandoning them on the street.
Mr Darlington said such parents usually travelled from the rural communities to Accra, where they abandoned their children.
According to him, the parents left the children with strangers and pretended to be buying something from a shop nearby but never showed up.
Mr Darlington said fortunately for the children, they were often found by good samaritans who sent them to the DOVVSU offices.
According to him, children who were under nine years were taken to the Osu Children’s Home while the older ones were housed at the Shelter for Abused Children at Osu, Accra, while officials of the Social Welfare traced their parents.
Mr Darlington said the photographs of children who were autistic or could not express themselves were shown on national television to help their parents, relatives or friends to identity them.
He said in the case of the disabled children, when their parents were traced and interrogated, their responses often showed that they deliberately abandoned their children.
Mr Darlington said when the children were reunited with their families, the unit liaised with the Social Welfare office in their communities to monitor the children while family members were informed about the state of affairs to ensure that the children were always safe.
“The parents are told that every child has rights and there are laws that protect them so anyone who goes against their rights would face the full rigours of the law,” he added.
Mr Darlington also noted that sometimes babies were abandoned by their mothers because of economic hardships and reminded such parents to give up their babies for adoption by going through the necessary procedures.
He explained that there were different kinds of adoption and added that there was a kind where the child could have foster parents and be returned to its biological parents when he or she was older.
Mr Darlington further explained that there were some children who had been adopted but their biological parents had absolute responsibility over them.