Well-off children, adults take up orphanage spaces
Children whose parents are still alive and teenagers above 18 are taking up spaces meant for orphans and vulnerable children in child care institutions (CCIs) in Blantyre and Zomba, a study has revealed.
The study was conducted by The Link for Citizen Empowerment and Development (The Link) in seven child care institutions in Zomba and 37 centres in Blantyre.
during the Blantyre meeting
“Guidelines prescribe that the needy and children in danger should be enrolled to alternative care. [However], not all children admitted to CCIs are needy. Some children with both parents and relatives who can take care of them find their way [in],” said The Link country director Jephter Mwanza when he presented the report in Zomba on Thursday.
Mwanza said some parents prefer to send their children to child care institutions because they offer better education.
“Some CCIs enrol children whose parents are alive because they just want to reach the capacity of their centres,” he said.
Senior chief Mlumbe of Zomba said he was saddened to learn that children who are not orphans are taking up spaces meant for the needy.
“It is unfair that a child from a well-to-do family should be benefiting from an orphanage when the [actual] orphans are suffering,” he said.
The report further shows that some centres keep children beyond the age of 18 despite the law describing a child as a person below 18.
Making a contribution when a similar report was presented in Blantyre on Friday, Safe Home matron Lefa Mahonga said not all children in CCIs have traceable families.
“Some children run away from their families because of ill-treatment, some were born on the street. At Safe Home, we have a child who was given to me when he was an infant. He has no known relation,” she said. n
