The Department of Social Welfare is encouraging the use of foster parents to care for children who or abandoned due to disability and other factors.

Mr. Fred Sakyi Boafo, Deputy Director, Child, and Family Welfare Division, said the Department has so far trained 514 foster parents in various communities and has 171 children in foster care.

Foster care is a system in which a minor is placed into the private home of a state-certified caregiver, referred to as a “foster parent” or with a family member approved by the state.

Mr. Sakyi Boafo said evidence shows that nurturing family environments are associated with positive outcomes for children’s development.

He said this at a training of trainers workshop on a Manual for Caregivers of Children with Disabilities.

He said formal foster care is typically authorized and arranged by an administrative or judicial authority which also provides oversight to ensure the best interest of the child is being met.

Mr. Sakyi Boafo said the foster care system in Ghana is backed by the Foster Care Regulations, 2018 (Li 2361)

He said the Department of Social Welfare has developed the foster care operational manual (2018), a foster parent training manual (2018) to help strengthen formal foster care in Ghana.

The Department is also carrying our recruitment drives to train and retain a pool of foster parents, he added.

Mr Sakyi Boafo said the foster parent training programmes will also include how to manage children with disabilities and called for intensified social education.