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The action would also affect others whose operations failed to meet the required minimum standards set in the Childrenās Act. āThe Department would encourage and support childrenās homes that will operate according to the regulations governing childrenās home, including having facilities and environment that are friendly to children and those with disabilities,ā Mr R. K. Santah said. He said some childrenās homes were operating without licenses while others abused the rights of children. Mr Santah was speaking at the inauguration of a new orphanage called Hannukka Childrenās Home, built at Baakoniaba, near Sunyani at an estimated cost of GHĀ¢142,000. He said even though private childrenās homes helped to reduce pressure on the state-owned facilities, many of them still operated with problems. Some of these problems, he said, were limited or no contact with family and community members, discriminatory practices with regard to race, religion, ethnicity, lack of appropriate care for children with disabilities, overcrowding of children and homes veering from charity to commercial status with children acting as trading commodities. Mr Santah expressed deep concern at the āapparent lack of interest of local communities in the welfare of orphaned and needy children, while some family members just dump the children in the homes and forget about themā. He stressed the need to explore opportunities for encouraging foster care and family support as viable alternatives to the emphasis on institutional care of needy children to help address the problem. He called on community leaders, stakeholders and child rights activists to encourage and promote measures that will strengthen families to enable them care for their own children. Mr Ignatius Baffour-Awuah, Brong-Ahafo Regional Minister, noted that āurbanisation and modernisation had brought in their wake vices that were a threat to traditional family values leading to an increase in the cases of neglect and abuse of spouses and childrenā. He urged the Department of Social Welfare, the statutory agency with the mandate to regulate the operation of childrenās homes, to always ensure that the Hannukka Childrenās Home played its role as expected in providing care for the deprived children. Further information Ā
[3 March 2008] - A representative from Ghana's Department of Social Welfare has warned his office would close orphanages operating without license.