Government should extend NHIS and SFP to private children homes

Accra, Sept. 11, GNA - Rev. Colleen Opoku Amuaben, Founder of Save Them Young (STY) Mission, a private orphanage, has called on government to extend services of the School Feeding Programme (SFP) and the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to private children homes.

She said this would help reduce the financial burden on private children homes and enable them improve upon the provision of healthy diets and better health care for the children.

"We will be grateful if government could allocate to private children homes some amount from the SFP and National Health Insurance Scheme for provision of good diet and health services for the children" she said.

Rev. Amuaben made the call during the 15th Anniversary Celebration of the Home dubbed, 93Put Smile of the faces of Needy Children" on Saturday in Ashiaman.

She said the promotion of child rights and education as well as other development for needy children in the society needed sectorial and coordinated approach.

"We need to work with government and other bodies to give the voiceless a voice and STY's long time plan would focus on education and also put the fear of God into children", she said.

Rev. Amuaben called on organisations and individuals to support children homes to make them a better place for enhancing the capabilities of needy children for national development.

Mr Peter Tweneboah-Kodua, Director of Western Region Social Welfare, said it was important for every children home to have foster parents to avoid the abuse of children in these homes.

According to him, foster parents would be held responsible for any form of child abuse.

He pledged government's support to children homes and advised authorities of such homes to teach children to do things on their own to enable them become responsible in future.