Family Welfare Services and Control of Child Abuse in Mbarara District

Abstract

Essay discusses the connection of Family Welfare Services and Control of Child Abuse in Mbarara District. In recent publication by the Daily Monitor Wednesday January 11th 2021, It was reported that parents are exposing their children to abuse because of they are unable to meet the basic needs of the children like school fees, food among others, which is why they have resorted to sending them to the streets. Therefore, the study of this research is to give understanding on the Family Welfare Service and Control of Child Abuse, the study will be guided by the following objectives; The objectives of the study were: to evaluate the effectiveness of family welfare services in controlling child abuse, to investigate the basic reasons of child abuse, to assess the challenges that kids have to face, and lastly to come up with and carry out measures to manage child abuse and its consequences on kids. The research was grounded in the Human Ecology Theory/family systems model pioneered by Broderick (1993). A cross-sectional research design was utilized for data collection and analysis. The study population consisted of parents/community members, probation officers, and police in charge. The main methods of data collection were questionnaire survey and interviewing. Data analysis involved both quantitative and qualitative methods. The research outcomes revealed that Family Welfare Services Play an Important Role in the Control of Child Abuse because the African charter on the right and welfare of the child proclaims that “member states shall take all appropriate measures to ensure that a child subjected to school or parental discipline shall be treated with humanity and respect and with respect for the inherent dignity of the child.”. Therefore, the majority of respondents 65% asserted that children receive psychosocial support, i.e., 65.6% abused children receive legal support; 66.3% cases of child abuse are always reported xiii to probation officer. The study findings investigated causes of child abuse in Mbarara District; these included; 50.0% of respondents indicated that death of parents because a child remains uncared and end up being cared for by other relatives / parents' friends, 80% polygamous, 75% drug abuse among parents' / care givers contributes to child abuse. However, it was indicated that study revealed that (48.3%) of respondents indicated that it is lack of enough basic needs; 57.9% of respondents indicated it is lack of recreational facilities. This therefore concludes that there is a positive correlation between Family Welfare Services and Control of Child Abuse. Therefore, this study concludes that there is high child abuse in Mbarara district and most children don't access family welfare services. This also means that it is essential for such stakeholders such as police, LCs, Parents as well as other concerned citizens to effectively enforce such laws protecting rights of such children in these communities despite challenges that make it impossible to attain complete success to end such vice.