Eighty-five orphanages in parts of the country have so far been closed down for their inability to meet the standards of the Department of Social Welfare of the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection.
The affected homes were operating under poor conditions, having a high number of children per care-giver, operating below standards and offering poor nutrition and health care.
Other facilities were operating without legal documentation and, therefore, had little or no knowledge about what they were doing.
Regional statistics
Briefing the Daily Graphic in Accra, the acting Director of Social Welfare, Mrs Comfort Asare, stated that those affected were mainly in the Ashanti, Eastern and Central regions.
She said the department had targeted other 30 homes which were operating under similar conditions.
Mrs Asare indicated that adequate measures had been put in place to monitor the activities of all the orphanages across the country, assuring the general public of the department’s preparedness to close down homes which were below standards.
Training and monitoring of care-givers
As part of its role in helping to reduce the influx of unauthorised orphanage homes, Mrs Asare said, the department had rolled out a training programme for the care-givers, adding that those in the Ashanti, Eastern, Western, Central and Greater Accra regions had already been trained.
Care-givers in the other regions would be trained by the end of this month.
“We’ll also ensure that we closely monitor the activities of these homes as we engage them in the training,” she added.
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