Department sensitises public to Child, Family Welfare Policy
The overall goal of the Child and Family Welfare Policy that was launched last year is to help formulate child and family welfare programmes and activities, to effectively prevent and protect children from all forms of violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation.
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The Department of Children under the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection has, therefore, held a dissemination workshop in Accra to sensitise the public to the policy and the 2014 Child Protection Baseline research summary report.
Guided by key principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the 1992 Constitution of Ghana and the Children’s Act 1998 (Act 560), the 22-page policy taps into the positive traditional values, principles and protective practices and mechanism of effective system that resonates with Ghanaians and service providers.
It focuses on policy framework, the child and family welfare system, institutional arrangements, as well as research, advocacy, monitoring and the evaluation process.
The policy also outlines the legal classification of a child, childhood, child and family welfare system, child protection, strengthening child protection system, community and community structures, family, harm, social protection, welfare, well-being and young people.
The report
The 2014 Child Protection Baseline research summary report, on the other hand, was used to inform the development of a new child protection policy framework, which comprises a child and family welfare policy and a justice for children policy.
It was also to provide a deeper understanding of the scope and breadth of the protection concerns of girls and boys of different ages in different regions of the country.
Addressing the workshop, the Head of Research at the Department of Children, Mr Sylvester Kyei-Gyamfi, said the child and family welfare system sought to establish a well-structured and coordinated child and family welfare system that promoted the well-being of children, prevented abuse and protected children from harm.
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He said the policy was guided by national and internationally recognised principles, as well as values, beliefs and practices that were specific to Ghana to ensure that the child and family welfare system would suit the Ghanaian context.
Playing roles
Highlighting the 2014 Child Protection Baseline research summary report, Mr Kyei-Gyamfi said the report, which was tagged, “It takes a community to raise a child,” focused on the nature of violence, abuse and exploitation, and how children could be protected from violence.
The 36-page book, he said, also focused on the discrimination of the social norms and harmful practices, child labour and child trafficking and the role of different actors.
Other sectors include abuse and exploitation, trafficking for child labour and sexual exploitation; child labour in general, female genital mutilation and cutting; what motivates child marriage, sexual abuse and exploitation, emotional violence, abuse and neglect.
Mr Kyei-Gyamfi, therefore, urged all parents to play their respective roles in taking care of their children in order to give them the best of care and guidance.
That, he said, would help in ensuring that they grew to become responsible adults who would contribute their quota to society.