Preventing streetism: An appeal to the government and the public

The phenomenon of street children is the most obvious manifestation of child neglect. Child neglect is a form of abuse in which the caregiver fails to provide for the child, resulting in physical, emotional, psychological or even educational harm to the young one.

It is commonly believed that parents neglect their children for economic reasons. This perception is, however, not supported by the research findings below:

• 30 years of improving economic status of poor families in the US was ineffective in reducing child neglect.

• Providing housing, health, nutrition and ownership of consumer goods have improved among poor families, yet neglect persists.

• Transferring financial resources to poor families increases their health and happiness but fails to reduce the incidence of neglect.

• Only some of the families in poverty neglect their children.

• Most poor families in the West would be considered rich in third world countries, yet they neglect their children.

Moreover, neither a large-sized family nor low educational status can be blamed for child neglect as indicated by the fact that there are many communities the world over in which formal education is absent and large families exist without neglect occurring.

It is obvious, therefore, that though economic factors contribute to neglect, they are not the main cause.

There are, however, other conditions which also characterise low socio-economic status but which have everything to do with child neglect. These are unemployment, being unmarried and being socially isolated. These three have in common the failure of individuals to establish enduring and productive social relationships with employers, co-workers, spouses and neighbours.

It is this severe difficulty in maintaining interpersonal relationships which social researchers have found to make people neglect their children and lead to socio-economic failure.

In trying to address the issue of streetism and child neglect in general, it will, therefore, be important to address this particular factor.

Research suggests that the years from zero to three are important for the development of basic cognitive (concerning the mind) and emotional skills of children.

How proper this development is, is influenced strongly by the quality of the personality who is primarily responsible for the welfare of the child and the environment within which a child is raised.

The cognitive and emotional control systems emerge around the age of three but show prolonged development into adulthood.

Their foundations, however, are laid in early childhood and strongly influence almost every area of psychological functioning and behaviour later in life.

Every child has an early need for love from its caregiver before it can grow to become a cooperative, trusting, sympathetic individual.

A good relationship with its mother helps the child to gain insight into its own characteristics, its role and its worth in society, and determines how the child relates with others throughout life.

It also leads to development of a higher level of self-esteem and a greater respect for others and makes it easy for the child to establish healthy emotional attachment to others.

In the absence of such human love and care, the chances that this child would grow up having problems with cognition, self-regulation and social integration are greatly increased.

These problems would cause them to neglect their children in future and to be unable to thrive socio-economically.

In addition to this, the risk of physical health problems (diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease and various forms of cancer) and mental issues (depression, anxiety disorders, addictions) is higher. Preventing streetism, therefore, demands that we protect our children right from their childhood.

The number of babies without parents who can offer them the love and the right environment to become socio-economically productive is certainly increasing.

Before these children would have any chance to make useful choices in life, their brains and their physiology would have been negatively affected by their unfavourable rearing conditions, often to extents that are irreversible or extremely difficult to manage. Organisations that work to get children off the streets have to grapple with enormous challenges resulting from the personal and interpersonal difficulties that these children end up with.

We do not have to wait until they find their way to the streets before we act. Preventive action is necessary and urgently required.

The foregoing does not seek to suggest that there are no children on the streets for purely economic reasons, who are supporting their parents.

Many of such children, by dint of hard work, are able to work their way out of the streets into better lives because they were not deprived of care as infants and children.

Recommendations

The current severe difficulties associated with adoption must end now in the interest of our future generation and the perceived corruption must be dealt with.

Secondly, we need to establish a mechanism to identify pregnant women who can be classified as being at risk of neglecting their babies.

This is possible by assessing factors such as income-to-needs ratio (whether there is sufficient income to satisfy basic needs), quality of housing, the physical environment (how unsafe and polluted the neighbourhood they live in), access to public health services and to good quality education, and the number and severity of psychosocial problems existing within the family.

If the outcome of the assessment shows that there is little likelihood that the child to be born would have adequate care, then the mother involved should be encouraged to give her child up for adoption.

Review regulations

From this perspective, there will, therefore, be a need to refine the regulations on adoption if necessary, to make it possible for babies to be taken at birth from such mothers and immediately transferred to new mothers who have been registered, screened and trained to receive and care for these babies as their own children.

The bureaucracy involved should be so refined that the baby can be handed over within a couple of days, maximum. Those who are considered incapable after assessment but who insist on keeping their children must be closely monitored subsequently, to ensure that they are not compromising the interests of their children through neglect and/or abuse.

Additionally, mothers who have to give their children up for adoption must have a number of avenues made available to them to be able to do so without difficulty.

These avenues should be advertised adequately, all in an effort to reduce to the barest minimum, the length of time that babies requiring ‘rescue’ have to remain in a state of transition.

This is because the longer a baby is left with a natural mother who is not psycho-emotionally capable (or unwilling) or in an institution, the worse the outcomes for that child.

• The writer is with the Psychosocial Health Foundation of Ghana.
Writer’s E-mail : ghanaphf@gmail.com