When an abandoned child is found, steps taken by social services aim first at looking for the child’s family.
For a long time now, cases of children who are intentionally abandoned or went missing are recurrent in our society. Stories of babies abandoned in garbage heaps, latrine pits and bushes are fairly common in most communities. Radio announcements of missing children are no longer surprising to listeners. And few people still bother to raise questions on where these children end up if their parents do not show up.
At the Ministry of Social Affairs, MINAS, in Yaounde measures are in place to rescue abandoned children. According to the Director of Child Protection, Mrs Moussa Lassome, a well-established procedure exists. “When children are abandoned, our field services send out announcements on the media and other forms of communication outlets,” she explained. While the Minister of Social Affairs is informed within 48 hours, the abandoned child is taken to the nearest police or gendarmerie station for an abandonment report to be established. The child is then taken to the hospital for examination and handed to social services to take care of the child’s health, feeding, education and psycho-social state. After which, the child is transferred to public Children-in-Distress Centres that now exist in Yaounde, Ambam, Garoua and Ekondo Titi. “If the child has to be secured first before transfer, then an approved Children-in-Distress Centre takes charge while documents such as medical report are established,” Moussa Lassome explained.
The MINAS official further said that a Children-in-Distress Centre is just a transit place, for once a child is received therein, the Director of the Centre issues a press release in an effort to identify any of the child’s relatives or his family. The social services visit the family in presence of its grandparents as well as the quarter head of the area and police officers so that the relationship is established, beyond doubt. If positive, the child is returned to the family. Mrs Moussa said hundreds of children have been returned to families in this manner. Children whose families are not found are, in their best interest, placed in families with a view of adoption. “We do this because we believe that the family is the best place for a child’s well-being,” she said.
