The Social Welfare Department of the Adentan Municipal Assembly hosted a three-day Child Protection workshop at the Luxury West Hotel for key stakeholders in the Municipality on Case Management and the Inter-Sectional Standard Operating Procedures (ISSOP). The focus of the workshop was to identify and respond to child vulnerability and child abuse. It was also focused on the street child, foster care programs and neglected children and family welfare activities.
Addressing the participants, the Municipal Coordinating Director of Adentan Municipal Assembly Mrs. Jemima Tsina Apedo Kallikrates stated that,“The child protection system in Ghana has been decentralized, to make all services responsive and accessible at the local level and closer to everyone while the provision of services in some municipalities and district assemblies to address different child rights and gender base violations remain unresponsive, fragmented and uncoordinated”. The workshop facilitated by Mr. Fred Sakyi Boafo was made up of a panel of Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU), Director of Ghana Health Service (GHS), Ghana Education Service (GES) and the Queen Mother of Shai Osu Doku and some staff of the Social Welfare Department.
Mr. Divine Exorgbe, Head of Social Welfare Department, gave a brief report on the work that had been done in relation to missing children, abandoned children and children who have been reunited with their families. He reported that 25 family dispute cases had been settled, relief items were donated to 27 Persons Living with Disability (PWDs) by the Assembly during the lockdown and three cycle Livelihood Empowerment Payment (LEAP) for 275 beneficiaries.
The facilitator, Mr. Boafo and other members of the panel spoke on barriers that can prevent adults from sharing concerns on a child’s welfare as lack of support, financial constraints and further stressed on the need to educate the public on Child Protection and the need to also educate our children on sex education at early stages. Mr. Boafo ended by informing all participants to work together so that we can help build a sector-wide devotion to Child Protection.
Fedora Larmie