Who promotes the health needs of 'Looked after children' in Ghana?

A recent case in Uxbridge a Ghanaian couple have been unfortunately jailed in the UK for maltreatment of their house-help. In Ghana housemaids do not have a voice and this couple obviously did not think they were doing anything wrong. Ghanaians in this country often practice the Ghanaian law until the English law to justify their actions of child abuse often catches them up.
Does Ghana also have a Children Act of a sort at all?
We have a Minister for Women & Children and one would expect to see development in this area however, if we are truly working in partnership with other countries.
Why do we still maltreat the vulnerable children with no set child protection policies to defend in Ghana? Would it be wise to say that it is about time we changed our attitude towards orphans, and looked after children?
How could our system stop child prostitution and signpost this group of children into meaningful vocational training with the vision to releasing their talents and encouraging them to aspire to greater things in life for a long-term benefit? A man defiled his 10-year-old niece in last week's news from Ghana. Surely it is only child protection policies that would ensure the safety of children.
Education is publicly funded with feeding programmes for 0-18 yr. year olds. The Universal services include nursery education, schools, health clinics youth centres, and colleges. In addition, services for the most vulnerable children and young people (for example the unofficial fostering our some of our children and those in public care).
Does our system provide inspections or reviews for the following settings: -
• Early years' settings, schools and colleges every year?
• Inspection of prisons and youth offenders’ institutions
• Is there support mechanism for young people in our judicial system?
• How could our system promote the health needs of looked after children?
Given that look after children have significant health needs more so than children living with their own parents, this area has been ignore by our system.
Children in this group go through emotional deprivation however this is sometimes underestimated by a nation.
For example, do we have a system where by each child that is fostered is registered on a universal system of assessment by the social services department?
Does our system provide a health plan for foster parents to work in partnerships with our social services to ensure the child’s safety through a child protection policy at all? What is social services expectation of foster parents in Ghana? Is this monitored, reviewed and evaluated periodically?
How could the health needs of children in this category be identified and assessment and health plan reviewed?
Do we have a flow chart to alert and enlighten the public as to the procedures?
Do we have a system in place to monitor children health needs is being met?
Are we in the process of developing health services for looked after children in Ghana nationally?
Is the any joint partnership between the police, health and social services as to any guidance through information sharing, reviewing systems, and thus ensuring good practice throughout Ghana?
Does our police service have annual child protection training at all?
What is the government expectation as to sexual abuse, neglect, and emotional and physical abuse? Does our police service send out a Police 78 (P78) a section in the police constitution as to the welfare of children I guess this is not the case in our country. Therefore how could the police link with health and social services in respect to domestic abuse, and child protection issues?
Do we have a multidisciplinary team to organise and discuss action plans for this group of children?
This week saw the fate of Gary Glitter the disgrace paedophile pop star Gary Glitter who abusing girls aged 10 and 11 in Vietnam. It is expected that would be served an order in the court in the U.K, which would effectively put him on the sex offender’s register for a second time.
Sadly Ghanaians youths also suffer from such men within our country. However they are jailed but it may appear that they are not put on the sex offender’s register in Ghana. Let name and shame those group on men on TV, radios and our communities.
Does Ghana also have sex offenders register to put people like him in our country behind bars to protect our children?
How could be protect our vulnerable children by this I mean children with downs syndromes, and other challenged physical abilities from such people?
Given that Ghanaian children are most vulnerable when they see a white man around. They assume that a white person is holy and forget that they are like us some are good, nice and evil.
Could we make this as a priority to alert our children not to engage with strangers who demand sex or offer them sweets to lure our innocent into their den of sex and evil behaviour?
Why should young girls be a prey to such evil men? In Vietnam the innocent girls reported Gary Glitter. Ghana should encourage our youths to challenge wrongdoing and reward them instead of our rigid ways of silencing the youths and giving them the respect they are due.
Ghana need to invest in educating our children and youths on prime time TV, radios, churches, mosques and markets as to the dangers some tourists bring into our country and destroy the future aspirations of our youths.
Let’s get that group of people before they strike to destroy!
Churches, schools and higher education all have a role to play in encouraging our young children and families to speak out and challenge any one approaching their children with sweets?
No Ghanaian travels to a Western world and start offering sweets to children? Therefore challenge any suspicious behaviour and report to the police. Is our police service trained in this area though?
Why do we allow organisations to exploit our children? I bought a fair trade chocolate bar yesterday with a picture of a young girl who should be at a vocational training school but instead busy working tirelessly at a cocoa farm on the cover. It is the Kuapa Kokoo co-operative in Ghana?
How come should our Government allow our children to be exposed through our chocolate bars? Why did the Kuapa Kokoo co-operation use the adults instead of this young girl? The bar code used on the fair trade chocolate is L118202 . This is unacceptable and one could regard type of promotion as rather promoting child slavery instead.
Why are we dwarfing the potential of our children the future of our motherland?
Ghana must be aggressive with strategies that would ensure the promotion of look after children within our society eradicated to the core. As it stands it appears system are not co-ordinated at all otherwise we would not have chocolate bars in Europe with a picture of a young girl on our cocoa farm. This is simply not acceptable it rather send a wrong message to the wider world that Ghana is cheap and child slavery is still practised and encouraged.
Unless Ghana Government get their acts together and see these issues of grave concerns as a priority instead of dangling gold medals as sign of great achievement we would be doomed as living in a dream world with diamond scattered around backyard.
The Ministry for Women and Children, FIDA and Women’s groups throughout Ghana must fight tooth and nail and demand money earmarked for their community development and claim it before it is too late. Sadly some of our men in top positions in Ghana do not see this as a priority.