Accra: The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection has assured members of the Family Based Care Alliance (FaBCA) of the ministry's readiness to collaborate with them to host this year's West African Alternative Care Summit (WAACS) in Ghana.
According to Ghana News Agency, the FaBCA, a Christ-centred faith-based organisation in Ghana, is set to hold the WAACS from June 17 to 18 in Accra. The summit aims to strengthen alternative care and family-based systems across West Africa and is themed 'From Commitment to Implementation: Scaling Family-Based Care Across West Africa.'
The summit is anticipated to feature an address by the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection and will be attended by a diverse group including policymakers, practitioners, researchers, civil society organisations, faith-based community leaders, security agencies, and individuals with lived experience of alternative care.
Madam Marian Kpakpah, the Chief Director who represented the Minister, provided assurance of the Ministry's readiness to partner with FaBCA during a meeting in Accra. She encouraged FaBCA members to coordinate with the Ministry's directors and specify the roles required for the conference.
The FaBCA delegation, led by Madam Susanna Afutu, presented a communique to the Ministry urging urgent action on systemic challenges impacting residential homes for children in Ghana. The communique highlighted issues such as economic barriers to family reintegration, uncoordinated care, inadequate child data, and the 'Missing Children' phenomenon.
Additional concerns include slow responsiveness of state actors, poorly managed reintegration, national data and monitoring gaps, and legal and policy information gaps. The communique recommended establishing a national protection data management system, strengthening inter-agency coordination, and developing economic empowerment packages for sustainable family reintegration.
The recommendations also called for clear response-time standards for child-related cases, improved monitoring of residential homes, and capacity-building sessions for child protection actors. The FaBCA urged the Ministry to convene a high-level engagement to develop a roadmap addressing these concerns.
Madam Afutu expressed gratitude to the Ministry's directors for their support and confirmed that FaBCA would continue seeking their assistance in addressing these critical issues.