TRADERS ADVISED TO PROTECT CHILDREN AT THE MARKET (PAGE 11, MAY 1, 2010)

The Ashaiman Municipal Social Welfare Officer of the Department of Social Welfare, Ms Augustina Nartey, has advised women to monitor the movement of children when they are busily engaged in business activities at the market and other places.
She said while conducting their businesses, some mothers tended to forget their children who often strayed and got missing.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic at Ashaiman, the Municipal Social Welfare Officer said the office had on daily basis, received reports of abandoned children who were between the ages of eight months and 10.
These children, she said, were found loitering or abandoned and, therefore, picked up by sympathisers and sent to the Social Welfare office.
Ms Nartey said in the past weeks, the police had handed over a total of 35 children whose parents could not be traced to the office.
She added that investigations had revealed that most mothers lost touch with their children while the mothers were trading.
Ms Nartey said the ‘Save Them Young Orphanage’ at Ashaiman had supported the Social Welfare Department and the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service by keeping the children while announcements were made to trace their parents.
She announced that the orphanage still had some unclaimed children aged between two and eight and appealed to market queens and heads to step up educational programmes on the welfare of their children.
She cited the case of a 10-year girl who was stranded and claimed to have come from Drobo in Brong Ahafo Region.
She said her outfit, in collaboration with the DOVVSU and some NGOs were working hard to trace her home at Drobo, and appealed to the public to help them locate the relatives of the child.