Parents advised against disowning disabled children

Nana Yaa Abrafi Bonsu, Executive Director of Redemption Care International, an NGO, has advised parents against disowning their physically challenged children.

She noted with regret in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Sunyani on Thursday that a lot of parents neglected such children and left them in the care of their grand mothers who struggled to take care of them.

Such children, she noted, were often abandoned in schools for the disabled by their parents who give wrong addresses and telephone numbers so they could not be traced.

Nana Abrafi said it was never the fault of such children to be born in such conditions, which could be caused by the mothers taking medicines or concoctions during pregnancy.

She said physically challenged children are very clever and intelligent and with a little assistance they could be groomed to become useful citizens.

The Executive Director explained there were a lot of schools in the country where such children could be educated or assisted to acquire skills and knowledge to help them develop.

Nana Abrafi entreated parents to go for their children from school during vacations and at the weekends to spend time with them so they could also enjoy life especially with family members.

She advised parents to provide correct information and addresses about themselves so they could be contacted when the need arose.

Nana Abrafi entreated mothers to accept such children and to take very good care of them since such children “rather bring blessings to a family”.

"It is never a curse for such a child to be born and live in a family since they also have a right to live and enjoy all the necessities in life," she said.

She said parents should rather be proud by showing love to children with disabilities so others in the society would also follow suit.

Nana Abrafi asked parents not to take advantage of such children by allowing them to sit by the road sides to beg for alms.

She urged the public to refrain from stigmatizing such children, since it could lead to their parents who might be affected emotionally, to dump or poison such children “in order to have a peace of mind”.

She said parents should be aware that any attempt to end the life of any physically challenged child could land them in trouble since children after birth were not only for them but also the state.**