Transcript CHILDREN IN DIFFICULT CIRCUMSTANCES SOCIAL …

CHILDREN IN DIFFICULT
CIRCUMSTANCES
Nana Araba Apt, MSW PhD
Professor and Academic Dean
Ashesi University College
www.ashesi.edu.gh
The State of Social Services in
Ghana
The Department of Social Welfare (DSW) is an
integral part of the Ministry of Manpower Youth
and Employment (MMYE) .
Established in 1950 to coordinate and facilitate
welfare services In Ghana and provide a link
with international social services.
Functions
Functions of the Ministry include policy
formulation.
The Department of Social Welfare works in
partnership with Civil Society Organizations
(CSO) and other state agencies in providing
material and advisory assistance to vulnerable
groups in communities throughout the country.
Programmes
In implementing its mandate the department
administers three core programmes for
empowering vulnerable and excluded persons.
Community-Based Rehabilitation Programmes
(CBR)
Child Rights Protection Programmes
Justice Administration Programmes
Demographical Features
Relating to Children
Children under age 15 continue to account for
about half the population
The mean family size has dropped from 5.5 in
1984 to 4.7
Mean family size is larger for rural women than
urban women i.e. 5.6 compared to 4.7 for urban
women
Family Size
Younger professional males favour smaller
families.
The higher the educational status of a woman,
the smaller the family size.
Educated /professional men and women are
therefore more likely to favour smaller families
and take on the responsibilities for children’s
welfare.
Children in Difficult
Circumstances
Child poverty is a manifestation of the poverty of
women especially.
Female poverty entails further deprivations that
become obvious in children's significant levels of
malnutrition and infant mortality. In times of
crisis, families may withdraw their children from
school to save on costs and for extra labour .
Younger children, most especially girls, are
socialized early into work and labour on the
streets and in households, missing out in
education and skills training.
Children in Difficult
Circumstances
Girls are typically withdrawn from formal
education before boys.
A growing number of young children are
vulnerable to exclusion as they are denied their
basic rights due to abandonment or orphanhood
early in life.
Among the youth also many are driven by poverty
to migrate to cities and large towns to fend for
themselves leaving them on the margins of
society without education, basic health care and
employable skills.
The national OVC (Orphans and Vulnerable
Children) policy document estimates that the
number of OVCs is over 170,000.
Child Labour
Child labour has emerged in Ghana as a major
phenomenon exposing young people to
considerable risk of accidents as defined under
the ILO programme on the Worst Forms of Child
Labour (WFCL).
Children engaged in hazardous work such as
fishing, commercial sex, ritual and domestic
servitude have been found to be among the sites
of WFCL.
Some children are brought to urban centres as
house helpers but run away from harsh
conditions or abuse and join the street trade
where they suffer all the accompanying risks of
homelessness.
Child Labour
Many young girls especially are locked into
domestic servitude that in many cases does not
provide adequately for their basic needs including
formal education, employable skills training and
basic health care.
The plight of a large pool of out-of-school youth
has become a major concern in Ghana.
Many migrate to the big cities and towns where
they are relegated to the margins of society.
Once there they are easily recruited into antisocial activity characterized by crime and
violence.
Many children leave school with little or no
proficiency in literacy and numeracy, nor with
employable skills.
In Summary
In outcomes of many surveys on street children
in Ghana, the low income status of the average
Ghanaian family has come to the limelight as a
major factor for change.
As a result of economic constraints, children have
to work and earn money for their own upkeep
and often to supplement family income.
The two inter-dependent issues of low incomes of
families and child labour are both major social
problems facing Ghana today
Poverty renders a family vulnerable to physical
and emotional stress and this is inconducive to
the social well-being of children.
Conclusion
If families could be assisted through meaningful
social programmes to be responsible for their
children
If families could be assisted through economic
programmes to be able to meet some of their
daily needs for survival and also meet their
financial and social obligations to their children;
There will be less children in the streets fending
for themselves
Less children in domestic servitude
And less children in distress