Peace and Love Orphanage closed down

Page 16: Daily Graphic, February 6, 2009.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE Peace and Love Orphanage at Adenta has been closed down by the Department of Social Welfare, following the discovery of alleged sexual abuse involving children, some as young as six months.
As a result of the ordeal of the children, the department relocated a number of them to other shelters in Accra and earmarked the Peace and Love Home for closure today (Thursdat).
The Director of the Department of Social Welfare, Mr Stephen Adongo, said the decision to close down the place followed reports of sexual abuse of some of the inmates, including a six-month-old baby boy, with the oldest victim being 18 months.
The Proprietor of the orphanage, Madam Grace Omaboe, was said to be out of the country at the time of the incidents, but upon her return five suspects allegedly admitted to her and later to the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service that they either had sex with or sodomised their victims each time the lights went off.
One of the suspects, who is eight years old, claimed he usually took the six-month-old baby to the kitchen where he removed his diapers and sodomised him.
Mr Adongo,who confirmed the developments, said the department received a message in January this year that the orphanage was in crisis, as there was very little food for the inmates, while they had little medical care.
He said based on the report, two of the victims were sent for medical treatment, after which they were relocated to the Osu Children’s Home.
He said a visit to the orphanage also confirmed that the inmates were not getting the best of care, hence the decision to close down the place.
Mr Adongo said when the report of sexual abuse reached his office, the department presumed that it was some volunteers working at the place who were involved, until the boys allegedly confessed to doing it.
The Public Affairs Officer of DOVVSU, Chief Inspector Irene Oppong, confirmed that the unit was investigating the matter.
She said statements had already been taken from the proprietor of the orphanage, the supervisors and the suspects.
She said examination at the Police Hospital also confirmed the sexual abuse of the victims.
When contacted, Mrs Grace Omaboe, the proprietor of the orphanage, declined to comment on the issue until investigations into the matter were concluded.
With regard to the school, attached to the orphanage, Mr Adongo indicated, it is the Ghana Education Service (GES) which has to decide whether to close it down or not since the GES had its own guidelines for the establishment of schools.
He disclosed that what they had gathered at Peace and Love Orphanage could be a pointer that the problem of sexual abuse and poor living conditions for inmates in orphanages could be widespread throughout the country.
Mr Adongo said inadequate logistics and personnel had thwarted the efforts of the department to conduct regular visits to many of the homes across the country.
He said as a result, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) was sponsoring a Care Reform Initiative (CRI) under the department to address the challenges confronting some of the orphanages.
As of last year, he said, a census conducted by the department established that there were 147 orphanages throughout the country but indicated that the number kept increasing by the day.
Mr Adongo said under the CRI, each orphanage would be assessed to determine whether all the inmates should be kept there or be reunited with their families.
He explained that some parents gave out their children to be kept at the orphanages, saying that it was not always the case that the children’s parents were deceased or incapacitated not to be able to cater for them.