CHILD PROTECTION- THE PERFECT HELPGUIDE

Last Updated on September 18, 2024 by Joshua Isibor

In this article, we would be brainstorming so many things about child protection that every parent needs to know.

10 Things Society should Know.

1. All children have a right to information suitable to their age, to be heard, and to participate in making decisions that concern them. In cases where they are too young to participate in such decision-making, they should be informed about major decisions taken over them and the implications.
2. They should have the right to be heard and freedom of thought. Listen to children. Children always have something to say, don’t mute them, but rather give them a listening ear. They have the right to express themselves.
3. Girls and boys are exposed to trafficking when parents’ or guardians’ protection for them is weak. Guardians should be very sensitive about the environment that their children reside in and establish protective systems to ensure the safety of their ward. Also, the child should be educated on how to protect him/herself from traffickers and kidnappers.
4. Children (both male and female) should be protected from exposure to sexual abuse and exploitation in the school, home, workplace, or community. Ensure that the environment is safe for your child. Teach them about their sexual rights and body privacy.
5. Work at home should not prevent children from attending school. Do not overload your children with work or involve them in any form of task that can hamper their education.
6. Children must be protected from all work that is dangerous. Keep the home and playground safe for children.
7. Boys And girls must be protected from all forms of violence and abuse. Keep your children away from violent and abusive persons, places, or movies.
8. It is the right of every child to grow up in a family. Every child deserves the warmth of a home and should not be isolated.

9. Every child has a right to a name and nationality and should be registered at birth.

10. Every child has a right to healthcare. Take the health of a child as seriously as yours.

…Children grow best in a loving family environment in which their best interests are always taken care of. If a child is not living with a parent or other caregiver, an effort should be made to reunite the child with his own family or extended family, or a foster family. Family provides warmth and the best atmosphere for a child to live in.

…Birth registration provides an official record that the child exists as a citizen. A child without a birth certificate can be denied access to health care, legal services, and school enrollment.

…Boys and girls can happen to experience different forms of abuse, violence, and/or harmful practices in many settings (family, school, and community). Society reduces in safety every day.

• Physical violence
• Psychological /emotional violence
• sexual, gender-based violence and abuse –
• neglect and abandonment
• child marriage
• harmful traditional practices, such as female genital cutting (circumcision)

…In care and justice institutions (e.g. orphanages children’s homes and detention facilities) physical and psychological violence under the guise of discipline, neglect, child-to-child violence, sexual abuse, and violence.

…Children who are victims of violence often remain silent out of fear, shame, or stigma. Many accept it as part of life. While some violence is perpetrated by strangers, most is carried out by people children know and trust. These may include parents, step-parents, relatives, caregivers, boyfriends and girlfriends schoolmates, teachers, religious leaders, and employers.

… Children have a tender and frail body frame. Hence, they should be protected from every harmful task that has the ability to disable, deforming, or causing serious injuries to them. Giving a child a task or punishment injurious to his/her health is called child abuse. There are some tasks that are tagged child abuse and underage by law, e.g street hawking.

Community intervention should include some key actions such as:

…Develop and communicate codes of conduct against all forms of violence in areas where children live go to school and play. Educate parents and caregivers to respect the child’s views and opinions and learn not to discipline them where angry.

…Support schools to encourage attitudes that reject violence and promote the peaceful resolution of conflicts. Sponsor public campaigns to stop physical punishment, abuse, and harmful practices.

…Provide children affected by violence with health and social services and reunite them with their families and communities.

…Provide means for children to report violence against them, using a telephone (hotlines) or accessible social protection centers.

“The government and local authorities, with support from families and civil society, should develop measures to address child labor, such as: Identifying and communicating to the general public the different forms of child labor found in the community.

…Identifying and saving children from child labor, child trafficking, and child abuse. Educate their parents and reunite them with their families and communities.

…Ensure that all children in the community attend a school. Education is also the right of every human and child. The government should provide free education for the disadvantaged set of kids.

… Children’s health is and should be a priority for every guardian. As tender as they are, that’s how tender their immune need is. They need protection from communicable diseases. Some children may be infected with sexually transmitted infections including HIV.

…Girls may face the risk of early and unwanted/unintended pregnancies that endanger their lives and can subject them to stigma and discrimination. Children can begin to learn early what constitutes “good touch” and “bad touch” and should be taught to report any bad touch to a trusted adult.

Governments can support local authorities and civil society to:

Provide social services as needed to help parents take care of their children.

Address and prevent domestic violence. Treat children as victims of crime and not as criminals.

Make and enforce laws that prosecute traffickers.

Ensure environmental safety for their children.

 KEY SUPPORTING INFORMATION

Community service and counseling help to protect the rights of children and make them useful members of the society. Youngsters in detention for the most part generally need a social protection response, not a judicial one.

Young children should not be given corporal punishment. If they must be punished, let it be light punishment that won’t cause any injury to their body.

Children are tender, hence tender care must be given to them at all times, irrespective of the situation and circumstance. They are the responsibility of the society and the government. Treat them right.

CLICK HERE TO READ, Making time for your KIDS

Originally posted 2020-08-31 23:20:28.