OrphanAid Africa urges government to phase out orphanages
OrphanAid Africa urges government to phase out orphanages
September 09, 2010
Accra, Sept. 9, GNA - OrphanAid Africa, a non-governmental organization that supports orphaned children, has advocated for kinship and extended family care systems to replace the institutionalization of children at orphanages.
The international NGO said all over the world, abuse was common in orphanages and called on government to set a deadline to close down all orphanages.
In a statement reacting to recent revelations of abuse at the Osu Children's Home in Accra, the NGO said orphanages were often a cover for child trafficking and called on government to refuse registration of new ones.
It should also sanction those who ran orphanages without being gazetted by the Department of Social Welfare (DSW).
The NGO urged government to periodically publish and disseminate the National Plan of Action for Orphans and Vulnerable Children, the Regulations for Orphanages and Regulations for Foster Care, and ratify The Hague Convention on International Adoption.
"These are all great protocols that safeguard the interest of children in Ghana, but have never been officially approved. They give the essential framework for caring for children without appropriate parental care," it said.
It said government should support the DSW to continue to train all the social workers on proper procedures for sensitive de-institutionalization, tracing and reunification, and consulting with children on why orphanages were not good for them.
The NGO said government should by the close of this year release funds to the DSW to trace and reunify children with their families, and then support the families through its Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme.
The statement said government should, through a mass advocacy campaign, actively encourage Ghanaians, foreign donors and religious bodies to fund the resettlement programmes rather than expect orphanages to do it.
It said there should be a database to serve as a reference point and storage for the details and actions regarding all vulnerable children institutionalized in the country at present, which would be a tool for tracking their whereabouts and well-being after de-institutionalization.
It also advocated the creation of one emergency shelter for children per region to provide specialized, professional, and high quality short-term care for children during emergency situations.
GNA