The Social Workers Association of Ghana (SWAG), has asked families to pay critical attention to their children, in the wake of the two teenagers who murdered eleven year old Ishmael Mensah at Kasoa in the Central Region.
It said families are the first stage of socialization and must provide the needed orientation to children.
A statement signed by President of SWAG, Divine Exorgbe, asked parents to monitor their children’s movements, direct and create a friendly environment to enable them to share their challenges with the family.
It also calls on the media to factor the needs of children in their content in order not to expose them to harm, adding the police must pay attention to children in society due to their vulnerability.
On the recent murder, in Kasoa it called on the public to be circumspect in their pronouncements as the case involved teenagers, who also have some right under the 1992 Constitution and the Juvenile Justice Act, Act 653 of 2003, Children’s Act, Act 560/98 and the Criminal Code, Act 29/60 Amended.
SWAG expressed its condolences to the family of the victim, and called on the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Department of Social Welfare, the Office of the Head of Local Government Service, and the Ministry of the Interior to take a second look at the country’s correctional and remand homes, to ensure that at least every region has one professional social worker.
