The Ashanti Regional branch of the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Police Service, has expressed concern about the alarming rate of missing children in the region and blamed the trend on the failure of parents to teach their children their addresses. More than 30 children were reported missing by the unit last year. Out of the number, only 18 were reintegrated with their families while the rest were sent to the Kumasi Children's Home. ASP Appiah Sekyi, Ashanti Regional Director of DOVVSU, told the Times that the problem had been compounded by the inability of the children to tell their own names and that of their parents. ASP Sekyi noted that some parents took delight in their children calling them "Mama" or "dada" and never bothered to teach them their real names. "It is wrong for your child to call you sister, brother, uncle, untie and what have you, without knowing your real name," he said Mr Sekyi asked parents of deaf and dump children to ensure that the names and addresses of the children were written either on the collar of their dresses or conspicuous part of their uniforms, besides providing them with identity cards for easy identification anytime they went astray. He said the unit last year recorded 23 cases of children exposed to harm as against 34 in 2008 while 11 abortion cases were recorded last year as against 14 the previous year. ASP Sekyi said of the sodomy cases recorded last year, one of the victims, an eight-year-old girl, died as a result. In 2008 the unit recorded four cases of sodomy. Source: Ghanaian Times/Ghana