An NGO, Societal
Socialize Children Villages International, established to meet the
children’s needs and protect their rights, has given shelter to 99
indigent children in Plateau since 2010.....
The Programme Director of the organization, Mr Stephen Davou, made this known in an interview on Wednesday in Jos.
Davou said that the beneficiaries had
either lost a parent or about to lose, and thus, had no economic and
emotional stability to secure their future.
He said that the children were selected
from social development welfare offices across the 17 LGAs of Plateau
with guardianship from the court of law.
“The 99 children are in 12 family houses, with 33 in secondary school and 66 in the primary school.
“We offer them parental care using family-based care model because the family is the best place for the child to grow.
“We have a mother figure to care for them throughout their period with us. It is a long-term programme in which their education, health, morals are catered for.
“We have a mother figure to care for them throughout their period with us. It is a long-term programme in which their education, health, morals are catered for.
“They can stay with us till university
level and leave the shelter when they are self-sustaining; then, we
re-integrate them into the society,” he said.
The official said that the organization
had also trained youths on entrepreneurial skills and secured their
internship in various organizations.
According to Davou, some of the youths eventually get employed in their places on internship.
He urged the Plateau Government to
gazette the Child Rights Law passed in the state since 2005, noting that
child abusers were perpetrating the act because the law had yet to be
operational.
“We are pleading for functional family
courts according to the provisions of the Child Rights Law because
prosecution on issues affecting children’s welfare will be better
handled there than in the conventional courts,’’ he said.
He said that crisis in Plateau had rendered many children homeless.
According to him, parents should be
close to their children, know their friends, monitor where they go and sensitize them to the need to identify and report any form of abuse from
anybody for appropriate actions.
The organization, which has headquarters in Austria, has offices in seven states in Nigeria.
NAN
No comments: