Madam Florence Ayisi Quartey, Director of Department of Children, Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP), has urged parents and stakeholders to protect children’s “survival and healthy development.”
She explained that children needed to be supervised because they were physically, psychologically, and emotionally fragile and unable to defend themselves properly, and that the younger the infant, the more care and security he or she required.
Madam Quartey stated that child health and safety necessitated multi-sectoral initiatives in which healthy nurturing principles and activities were simultaneously aimed at parents, extended family members, and other formal and informal duty bearers.
Madam Quartey said this at the launch of “Watch Your Tongue” Foundation’s campaign for 2021 and beyond dubbed “Child Protection Campaign” (CPC).
Madam Quartey said families were the first safety net for children, whose primary, social, religious, and legal role in society was to care for children and fulfill their basic needs, in a speech read on her behalf by Mr Michael Kofi Ofori Abiaw, Principal Programmes Officer, Department of Children, Ministry of Gender, Youth, and Social Protection.
“Our rules, the Children’s Act, 1998 (Act 560) Section 6 (1-4), enshrine the roles and obligations of the family, including parents . The Children’s Act of 1998 (Act 560) also imposes on parents the child’s rights to life, integrity, respect, recreation, liberty, wellness, schooling, and shelter, as well as the duty to ensure that the child is well provided for and covered in their absence,” she added.
Madam Quartey encouraged all stakeholders to ensure that they were aware of and following child welfare measures in order to ensure that their actions did not affect children.
Sergeant Daniel Ofori –Appiah, the founder of the “Watch Your Tongue” Foundation Ghana, said the foundation’s goal was to better safeguard children by informing everyone on proper infant growth and treatment in both private and public settings.
He mentioned that the “Watch Your Tongue” (WYT) team planned to collaborate with other child welfare stakeholders to help create a stable and healthy atmosphere for children to develop and become the legitimate guardians of the next generation.
Mr Ofori-Appiah stated that the Child Protection Campaign (CPC) will use its “P-A-R-E-N-T CODE” definition, among other educational resources, to sensitize parents and other stakeholders on their position in child protection.
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“As a result, the ‘P’ stands for Protect children in all facets of their lives; A- Access- you must be open to them and they must be accessible to you. R- Receive information and get information from them. Don’t overlook or dismiss them; Do well to cater for your children’s needs . E-economic giant. Do well to cater for your children’s needs . Don’t give them the impression that you’re poor. Give it your all; N- Nurture them well. Be like a nurse in their lives; T- Teacher or trainer, teach and train the child to become a better person in future,” he added.
He stated that the Team was dedicated to developing a framework that raises visibility in order to better combat all types of child violence, and that the only approach to defend children was to train their handlers as well as the children themselves about life’s safety precautions.
Children are unique blessings from Heaven, according to Mr Frank Doyi, Acting Director of Amnesty International Ghana, and they deserve to be educated in a stable and secure community where their rights are not abused.
He believes that children should be shielded from child labor and early child marriage, and that parents that have children who are not in school should ensure that they are enrolled.
SOURCE: ATLFMONLINE
