by crossriverwatch admin
Social Welfare in Cross River State has lost its meaning when it comes to safe guarding our homeless children.
The well being of the entire Cross River State as a society, if we have any social structure in place is yet to be debated.
Social welfare is not the same as standard of living and to us in Cross River State I wonder what that will mean in terms of quality of one’s life that includes factors such as the quality of the environment, air, soil, water, level of crime, extent of drug abuse, availability of essential social services as well as religious and spiritual aspects of life.
We are all wondering, what kind of work our social services do for families as social services in the state are in a confused stage.
Street children in need in Cross river state, should be considered to be children in need if he or she needs help to manage the things that affect health and development.
This might be the case of:
you don’t have money for food,
you don’t have anywhere to live,
you are having problems that affect your health or education,
you are living with a violent person.
A child or children can be in need even if your family doesn’t have long-term difficulties. For example, your home might become uninhabitable in a fire or flood.
A child or children are in need until their problems are sorted out. The housing department if we have any, will probably also have a responsibility to help because families with children are automatically in priority need.
Where do street homeless children go for help for their problems on the street in Cross River State.
Can we as Cross Riverian ask our local council for contact details for their social services or children and families department?
Or is there a number any one can call, phone or visit the social services department in the state and tell it that you need help?
Could someone in-charge explain how your housing problems are affecting street children’s health or development.
For example: sleeping on the streets or in unsuitable accommodation can damage street children’s health, having nowhere to live could lead to stress or depression or any medical problems our children already have may get worse, just as the case of the street child found dead in the street in Calabar and reported by CrossRiverWatch.
Social services must carry out an assessment of the number of street children’s needs and find the ability to meet those needs. In the majority of cases, children should be safeguarded while remaining at home by social services working with their parents, family members and other significant adults in the child’s life to make the child safe, and to promote his or her development within the family.
Child Protection Plan is needed urgently in the state because we believe that the street child is at risk of significant harm or should be taken into care.
I think we as a people of Cross River State have a duty of care to protect homeless street children.
This duty of care which comes from the 1967 United Nations paper which state that “Social welfare as an organized function should be regarded as a body of activities designed to enable individuals, families, groups and communities to cope with the social problems of changing conditions”.
But in addition to and extending beyond the range of its responsibilities for specific services, social welfare has a further function within the broad area of a country’s social development.
In this larger sense, social welfare should play a major role in contributing to the effective mobilization and deployment of human and material resources of the state to deal successfully with the social requirements of change, thereby enhancing effective participation in nation-building.”
Paulina Morphy Fogg writes from the United Kingdom
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