By: Dwight Links
Almost two hundred thousand children were recorded under the child protection programmes of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare in the 10-year review period.
This was revealed by the Child Protection and Care report of 2014 to 2023.
The report was released this past week by the ministry, and it looks at the services and programmes that were active in helping vulnerable children during this period.
Child protection is one standalone service that highlights the extent to which children face daily pressures in domestic settings.
“Child protection measures and structures are designed to prevent and respond to abuse, neglect and exploitation of children, and violence against children,” the ministry said
The ministry also motivates the reason for the report as one to shine a light on the extent to which services of care and protection were sought by children.
A breakdown of the years and their spread of the total shows trends which the ministry does not really get into detail on.
In 2014, the country recorded 17,303 childen under protection; 2015 saw a major increase to 19,883 while slumping slightly in 2016 to 19,715.
Moving into 2017, there was a considerable dip to 18 189, followed by another sharp rise in 2018 to 19,068.
The following period from 2019 to 2023 shows varied statistics of fluctuations; in 2019, it fell sharply to 16,275. In 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the world, this number fell further to 14,037.
The next year, 2021, fell even further to 8,937, while in 2022 it jumped sharply by 10,000 to 18,583.
2023 recorded the highest ever number at 21,745.
According to the ministry, the sharp 2020 statistics were due to social workers being over-stretched.
“This drop is attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic and high social worker attrition. A strong recovery followed, with 2023 recording the highest number of children served during the 10 years,” the ministry described in the report.
Child Protection in Namibia encompasses various services under this term that were dispensed across the country.
Adoption, child care facilities, and vulnerable witnesses were the services that recorded the lowest number of children accessing these.
Psychosocial support, children’s status and foster placement saw the most victims being admitted to these for help.
Most programme areas reflect this broader trend. Psychosocial Support consistently reached the largest number of children, peaking at 12,645 in 2023 after a sharp decline in 2020 and 2021,” the report explains.
While Child Justice, Integration of Street Children and Violence Against Children all delivered mixed results over the period.
“Child Justice and Children’s Status determination services also showed recovery in recent years, although the former remained below its 2016 peak,” the ministry explained.
The report has also noted that Adoption, Foster Care Placement and Childcare Facility services declined after 2018 and have not yet fully rebounded.
Services for Violence Against Children nearly tripled from 2021 to 2023, while support to vulnerable witnesses, though small in scale, gradually improved,” the report confirmed on the trends that were seeing recent developments.
