ASOHON calls for govt collaboration to improve welfare, protection of orphans, vulnerable children

The National President of the Association of Orphanages and Homes Operators in Nigeria, ASOHON, Gabriel Oyediji, has called on all tiers of government to collaborate more with private homes in order to improve, support, and care more for vulnerable children across the country.

Oyediji, who spoke on Monday during a training for Orphanages and Homes Operators in the Southwest Zone, held in Abeokuta, Ogun State, lamented that 90 percent of these children live in private homes, and the government does nothing to support them.

He disclosed that the feeding, healthcare, and accommodation of these children lie solely on the homes, saying, “These challenges affect all homes across the states in Nigeria.”

His words, “We are the ones bearing all the children for government. Government carries less than 10 percent of the total number of orphans in Nigeria. If UNICEF put the orphans in Nigeria at 17.5 million as at 2008, we are talking about 22 million orphans and vulnerable children now.

“Yes, the bigger support is to help finance the association, finance members. A child in the home must have something from the government. They (government) should find us, they should trust us, and they should collaborate more for better results.”

DAILY POST reports that the training, themed “From Vulnerability to Stability,” organized by ASOHON in partnership with the SOS Children’s Village, aimed at strengthening foster care in Nigeria, had not less than 40 home owners in attendance.

Oyediji opined that most children raised in the homes lacked social skills, personal attention, affection, and remained isolated, hence the need for family-based care.

“We have found out in recent times that children that are raised for life in orphanages don’t have social skill knowledge. They are isolated and they don’t have personal attention and affection.

“This training is one to teach our home owners to learn about foster care — not to become too attached to the children and allow them to grow all their years in orphanages, but to release them for foster care. This foster care would help them have a real experience of family. It would expose them, teach them how to cook, how to take care of the house. That’s the essence of foster care, and we want to promote it in the nooks and crannies of Nigeria.”

Also speaking, the Ogun State ASOHON Coordinator, Beloveth Edima-Ekpo, stressed that members of the association must know the difference between fostering and adoption, urging them to always be ready to detach themselves from the children when it’s time for adoption.

Edima-Ekpo, however, advised members to stick to the ethical standards guiding the association and called for more trainings to educate and enlighten them.

In her remarks, the State Deputy Coordinator for Child Protection Network, Margaret Abosede Oviutu, advised all participants to practice what they’ve learnt and see the children as one of theirs, maintaining that all laws and guidelines protecting children must be followed.

One of the participants, Stella Willoughby, the Executive Secretary of Ijamido Children’s Home, Ota, described the training as an eye-opener and called for more advocacy on new foster care policies to address any issues that may arise.