NAME OF AGENCY; Shakawe Sub District Council S & CD

Issue Identified; Child Abandonment

Key Terms
Child- a young human being below the age of puberty or below the legal age of majority.
Abandonment- a fact of abandoning or being abandoned.

Child Abandonment- the practice of renouncing interests and claims over one’s
offspring in an extra-legal way with an intent of never again resuming guardianship over
them. In some instances, it is the failure of a parent, guardian or caregiver to provide
necessary care of a child living under their roof. (Barthelemy J: Social aspects of child
abandonment. Rev Med Liege 27: 414). It can also be described as when a child isS
knowingly left behind by his or her parent, who can be identified, and whose intention is not
to return but to willingly relinquish parental responsibility. Further, no other family members
are able or willing to take on the responsibility to parent and care for the child.

Description

Article 7 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) clearly states that every
child has “the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents”. When a child is
abandoned, this right is violated. Infants and young children are those most at risk of being
abandoned. This is concerning, as a child deprived of a stable upbringing in his or her early
years of life may experience difficulties in terms of emotional and behavioural development.
CAUSES OF CHILD ABANDONMENT

Poverty/ Financial hardship- This is when people lack the means to satisfy their basic
needs. In this case, parents, guardians or caregivers who have financial hardships cannot
afford to take care of themselves and their children. they would rather desert them forever.

Mental Illness/disorders- this is a behavioural or a mental pattern that causes significant

distress or impairment to one’s personal functioning. When a parent(s), guardians or
caregivers have a certain mental illness

Alcohol and Substance(drugs) Abuse- this is when one consumes a lot(too much) of
alcohol/ or drugs which are harmful to their health or to other people. In this case, the parent,
caregiver or guardian abuses drugs and alcohol which results in the negligence of one’s
primary parenting roles hence resulting in child abandonment in most cases.

Unplanned Pregnancies (and Teenage Pregnancy)- Lack of family planning knowledge in

an intimate relationship can result in a couple conceiving a child which they would not be
able to take care of. This results in the parent(s) deserting the child. Teenage pregnancy also
constitutes to this abandonment as most young teenage mothers are unable to provide/take
care of their children usually while in school hence they would rather desert them and focus
on building their futures which the children are not part of.

Restriction regarding access to abortion- since abortion is illegal in Botswana, this means
that if one falls pregnant (unplanned) and it is not under any special conditions which are;
pregnancy due to rape and the child having severe deformities, they are expected to have that
child. With this, it disadvantages those who are not ready to have children and they can resort
to abandoning their children after birth.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES
● To raise awareness against drugs and alcohol abuse through public campaigns.
● To increase awareness on Child Abandonment and the effect it has on a child’s
development.
● To educate the community on the importance of child care.
● To provide a support system for teenage mothers who are unable to take care of their
children.
 ● Prevent child abandonment through promotion of reporting cases of child
abandonment to relevant authorities (like the Police and Social workers) by the
society.

INTENDED OUTCOMES
● Reduced number of Child Abandonment cases in the society.
● Less usage of alcohol and drugs by society.
● Raised awareness about the importance of playing one’s parenting roles on their
children’s development.
● Responsible (young) parents who can raise their own children.

INTERVENTIONS/STRATEGIES

Offer therapeutic sessions. This will help them in the sense of therapy for parents who are
substance abusers as they will be guided on ways to be sober and better their lives and that of
their children. During these therapy sessions a task centred practice will be used to help stop
the substance abuse of the parent. This practice has four steps which are; 1. client problem
identification; 2. contract 3. problem solving, task achievement;4. termination. In this
process it is emphasised to ask clients on what they want to do to help them to be able to
address their problem of substance abuse. This kind of approach/practice helps in the
development of the client to be able to solve problems alone in future and take control of
their lives.

Another intervention is whereby I will facilitate an open workshop which will consist of
different stakeholders including the police officer(s) who will be educating people about the
importance of knowing acts and policies that deal with children as it is important for them to
know and understand them. Acts like the children’s acts and Matrimonial causes act can be
used as a guidance for parents on how not taking care of their child can be a serious offence
and to remind and inform them to be responsible parents.
Another stakeholder being a Psychologist, will be there to educate the society about Child
Abandonment outcomes in the short and long term. Short term is those of the child having
difficulties at school not being able to perform to their full potential due to a low self-esteem
among other factors and the long-term effect of abandoning a child is that it can lead to the
child also being unable to give their future children the proper care as they did not have
proper or no parental guidance during their childhood.

To curb instances whereby teenagers abandon children, I will raise awareness against
unprotected sex between teenagers in Secondary schools to reduce the numbers of teenage
pregnancies as it is usually difficult for teenage mothers to play a parenting role while
focusing on their school. I will also teach teenage mothers of the available support groups
which can help equip them with skills of how to take care of their children.

Another intervention is the creation of a social club that will consist of different parents. In
this club it will consist of parents who are having difficulties with playing their parental roles
and even those who are doing well with this process. They will be taught different life skills
and ways of raising a child and the necessities a child needs to be able to grow and develop
well. The group will be sharing life skills and their different ways of effectively taking care
and raising a child. A skilled helper model will be used during these group sessions as it
believes that individuals need to be empowered for them to act and this model pays attention
to social justice issues to a larger extent. It focuses on helping clients realise their potential
and full utilisation of resources and helps them become optimists as a way of curbing social
problems. This model has 3 stages that will be used to tackle the issue of them neglecting
their children. The three stages being:

• Stage1(What is going on? As you look closely, what is really the key issue
to work on?). This being the clients being asked if they really understand
the situation they are in and what issue they see is fit to be worked on.
• Stage2(What do u want and need?)- in this stage as the facilitator I will ask
the clients what they want and need to overcome the situation that they are
in. clients will set goals they want to archive.
• Stage3(How do you intend making it all happen?)- Here clients will come
with the goals they have set, and they must be realistic, and a plan will be
set on how the goals will be met.

TIMELINES

CLUB FORMATION

● 1st week- research in the institution about children who are being neglected by
their parents and even around the community try and identify cases of child
Neglect.
● 2nd week- identify the individuals and invite them to join the club in which it will
be held in the community hall.
● 3rd week- task allocation of the members, they will be given leadership roles in the
club and beginning of group activities.
WORKSHOP PREPARATION

● 4th week- workshop preparations. Seeking for location and suitable day for
implementation.
● 5th week- contacting and invitation of different stakeholders to the workshop
● 6th week- workshop operation week.

CAMPAIGNS IN SCHOOLS
• 1st Week- move from school to school in a period of 1 week raising
awareness against unprotected sex and its implications.

STAKEHOLDERS
• Botswana Police Service
• UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Funds-
Botswana)
• Social workers
• Nurses (and other health workers)

SOCIAL CHANGE ANTICIPATED

● Parents will be able to better care for their children as they will be educated on the
effective ways of taking care of a child as well as raising a child.
● People of the club will be empowered and able to now stand up and seek different
ways to end their problems i.e. unemployment and poverty.
● There would be lower rates of child abandonment as parents and the community now
will be well informed on the social issue of child abandonment and its negative
effects.
 ● Decreased cases of teenage prepregnant.

RECOMMENDATION
● I recommend that there should be more men who get involved more in child related
problems.
● I recommend that there should be more social workers to do more empowerment
schemes especially for the unemployed people.
● I also recommend that a rehabilitation facility should be built in the community to
help drug and alcohol abusers who are failing to recover and other clients in need of
the services.

REFERENCES

Abandonment & attachment related trauma treatment & rehab center. (n.d.). Retrieved
from [Link]

Megase, K. (2016, March 3). How fear of abandonment affects relationships. Retrieved
from [Link]
abandonment-affects-relationships

Schoenfelder, E. N., Sandler, I. N., Wolchik, S., & MacKinnon, D. (2011). Quality of
social relationships and the development of depression in parentally-bereaved youth.
Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 40(1), 85-96. Retrieved from
[Link]

Wade, B. (1995, 04). Fear of abandonment. Essence, 25(79). Retrieved from

[Link]

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)

20 signs someone has abandonment issues. (2017, September 8). Retrieved from
[Link]