West Afrika: kinderen moeten beschermd worden: Kinderhuizen zouden een laatste optie moeten zijn

overgenomen uit IRIN nieuws 
WEST AFRICA: Protecting children from orphan-dealers
Irin - 27-05-2009
The recent rape of an eight-month-old boy in an orphanage in the Ghanaian capital Accra revealed conditions that child rights advocates say are rampant across West African orphanages. When the authorities investigated the incident they discovered 27 of the 32 children living in the home were not orphans.  

the article concludes:

“The problem stems from…systemic failure, which encourages the proliferation of unlicensed and unmonitored orphanage,” Apiah said. “These problems will be there as long as we continue to lack a firm social safety net to support poor parents to raise their children.”

Supporting such safety nets – giving vulnerable families cash transfers, paying for children’s education or healthcare – can influence a family’s decision as to whether or not to keep their child, said UNICEF’s Theis.

“A range of solutions, from safety nets to foster care to community care, have been shown to work, and are much cheaper than putting children in orphanages,” he said. “Putting children into institutionalised care instead of a family setting must always be a last resort. “

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