Narratives of Ghanaian Social Workers on Community Leaders’ Response to Child Maltreatment

Abstract

Communities play an important role in ensuring the well-being of children since child maltreatment often occurs at the micro level of society. Hence, there are several interventions organised using community child-protection models. However, there is a dearth of information on how leaders in the communities respond to child maltreatment. This paper, therefore, explored the narratives of social workers on the type of community leaders and how they respond to child maltreatment. This is to provide empirical evidence for community programme design and engagement for child protection practitioners to ensure the best outcomes for children. The study presents narratives from in-depth interviews with 15 social workers in the Ashanti region of Ghana on how community leaders respond to child maltreatment. The findings indicate that different types of community leaders are involved in ensuring punitive actions are taken against perpetrators but the actions are focused on internal resolutions and victim compensation rather than legal redress. These have implications for social workers, as families who value monetary redress are less likely to inform the state of any child maltreatment. Therefore, social workers have to intensify community engagement and education by highlighting the consequences of less punitive actions against perpetrators of child maltreatment. It is also recommended that children must be empowered to disclose child maltreatment concerns regardless of their relationship with the perpetrator.