It is against the laws of the country for mothers to hand over their children to others to take care of them, the Gender Ministry has indicated.
It is common practice in Ghana for poor families to offer their children to others to take care of them while the children in turn provide domestic assistance to the caretaker family. There is often no documentation covering the arrangement. Despite common knowledge that most children offered under such arrangement suffer abuses, the practice has largely remained in place in many parts of the country.
“It’s illegal to take your child and hand him/her to another person to take care of him/her. You bring the child to the social welfare,” Deputy Director and Head, Central Adoption Authority of the ministry Stephen Dombo told Francis Abban on the Morning Starr Tuesday.
“There are people who’ll encourage some young women to carry their babies and adopt after they deliver and that’s illegal. I feel that people need to be educated. If they’re educated, they’ll not do the things they’re doing. Example, if you pick an abandoned child, you don’t keep the child, you report to the police,” he added.
Source: GhanaFeed.com