Child Protection Committee for Adansi-North
A Social Welfare Officer in the Adansi-North District, Mr Godwin Bansah, has advised members of Child Protection Committees (CPC) to educate the communities on the rights and responsibilities of parents and children to help reduce the incidence of child abuse.
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He drew attention to the insults that parents hurled on their children and other persons and said it could affect the confidence level of the children, adding that some parents even went further to rain curses on their children.
Mr Bansah was speaking at the inauguration of a seven-member Child Protection Committee at Adansi-Adomanu in the Adansi-North District of the Ashanti Region.
Committee’s responsibility
The committee’s responsibility is to monitor child labour and other abuses that affect the growth and health of children.
The committee, made up of representatives of chiefs, religious bodies, health officials, youth groups, women groups, educationists and other opinion leaders in the community, is yet to elect its officers.
At the committee’s maiden meeting, which involved the Participatory Development Associates (PDA) in Obuasi Municipality at Adomanu, the members were taken through their roles and responsibility as child protection committee members.
Mr Bansah advised parents to desist from quarrelling and engaging in other insulting behaviour with other people in the presence of their innocent children, since such social and emotional abuses and practices affected children.
Excessive torturing
He spoke against exposing children to excessive torturing and beating and said such acts negatively affected children’s health and social development. He also advised that children should not be allowed to watch movies that taught them to be violent.
Mr Bansah appealed to the committee members to exhibit good leadership qualities in their community so that they would earn the respect of people, who would also abide by the teachings and advice given them.
He advised parents to be patient and circumspect in their investigations on abuse of children since any action taken in haste could jeopardise the effective operation of the committee.
Ms Diana Aboagye of PDA called on the committee members to exhibit child-friendly qualities and advised parents to endeavour to avoid acts and behaviour that tended to teach children to be corrupt in future.
Mr Samuel Kofi Appiah, a retired educationist and a member of the committee, expressed worry that some parents shirked their responsibilities toward their children and forced them to engage in hazardous work to earn a living.
