The Department of Social Welfare (DSW) has, from 2007 to date, closed down 48 children’s homes and orphanages because they were unregistered.
The objective of the exercise is to ensure that standards and safety measures for running such facilities are strictly adhered to.
The National Coordinator of Orphanage and Vulnerable Children (OVC) at the DSW, Mr Fred Sekyi Boafo, told the Daily Graphic that the 48 children’s homes and orphanages were operating without the appropriate licences or documentation.
Meanwhile, he said, his outfit had charged some other orphanages to improve their work.
A total of 133 children’s homes are operating in the country, with 17 in the Ashanti Region, 17 in Brong Ahafo and 16 in the Central Region.
The others are 12 in the Eastern Region, 24 in the Greater Accra Region, nine in Upper East, 21 in the Volta Region and seven in the Western Region.
Registration/Licensing
Mr Boafo said only nine homes, including the three government homes, namely, the Osu, the Kumasi and the Tamale Children’s homes, have been licensed to operate.
He said some had been registered but had not acquired the licences to operate.
Mr Boafo explained that the process for registering children’s homes and orphanages included acquiring a certificate of incorporation at the Registrar-General’s Department and a licence which was issued by the DSW.
Before a licence was issued, he said, a profiling exercise, which involved an assessment of the home, was first conducted by officials of the DSW, upon whose recommendation the licence was issued.
Requirements
Mr Boafo outlined other details of the standards and requirements for operating children’s homes and orphanages to include evidence of ownership of the premises and a building permit.
Staff must be professionally trained, adequate in number, should not have any criminal record and there must be proof of financial capability of catering for the children.
The national coordinator said to help enforce the standards, a Care Reform Initiative Unit had been established at the head office of the DSW to ensure that homes that had not followed the due process were closed down.
He said regional monitoring teams had been set up under the unit to ensure that sanity prevailed in the homes.
Source: Daily Graphic