Child rights activists have warned that children’s welfare may continue being compromised if improvements are not made on the provision of social services.
They cite inadequate child protection structures, weak law enforcement mechanisms and lack of clear policies on the role of parents over neglected children.
This comes in the wake of reports that Malawian children are at risk of being trafficked or smuggled out of the country through inter-country adoptions because the government has no mechanism for tracking and protecting children at child care centres.
Two weeks ago, The Sunday Times revealed that 18 Malawian children have in the past two years been adopted by people who stay overseas.
Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) Chairperson, Justin Dzonzi, said the country’s child care system leaves a gap that institutions are trying to fill.
He said, while some institutions have good intentions, others take care of the children with the purpose of putting them up for adoption.
“There are many families with destitute children whose mothers have died in child birth, leaving behind orphans families cannot take care of. They can’t even afford formula milk. The alternative is the orphan care centre, where the baby ultimately gets adopted,” Dzonzi said.
“An efficient child protection system would identify children in need and place them in care at the government’s expense, which is not the case in Malawi. Orphanages identify babies and only report to social welfare afterwards. This shows the government has limited control [over the process],” Dzonzi said.
Malawi has laws that oblige parents to bear responsibility for their children.
The Penal Code and the Child Care Protection and Justice Act make it an offence, for persons who have the means, to neglect children by failing to provide the necessities of life.
We have learnt that MHRC has cases related to child maintenance claims. Such cases largely involve mothers who are claiming child maintenance funds after some fathers abandoned their children.
“This is a social problem. People are having children they are not prepared to provide for. Despite [having] the laws, they are getting away with it. The law should be enforced [and] those who willfully neglect their children should be prosecuted,” Dzonzi said.
Centre for Children’s Affairs Executive Director, Moses Busher, said, much as the government cannot manage to take care of all the needy children, it does not prioritise the provision of support to orphans and other vulnerable children.
“The government should use its powers to take the children back to their relatives. Those who do not want should face the law,” Busher said, adding that adoption is not the only way out.
Meanwhile, Probate Officer in the Ministry of Gender, Children, Disability and Social Welfare Dominic Misomali has dismissed claims that the country is not doing enough on child care.
“We have all the information about children at child care centres [which we get] through our social welfare officers. In fact, we are working on reducing the number of children living there [in childcare centres]. It’s in their best interest to be brought up in a proper home,” he said.
Misomali added that Unicef hired a consultant to help the ministry in its reintegration programme. The programme is being implemented in Mangochi, Blantyre, Lilongwe and Dedza districts.
“This is a process of establishing the circumstances that culminated in the child ending up in these institutions. We want to trace their extended family [members]. We know they, at least, have an extended family, unless they were abandoned somewhere. We don’t want the children to grow up in these institutions,” Misomali said.
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