The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, in collaboration with Emerald Production, has launched its 2014 celebration of the International Family Day, with a call on Ghanaians not to lose interest in the extended family system.
The Chief Executive Officer of Emerald Production, Mrs Irene Lorwia Zakpaa, who made the call in an interview with the Junior Graphic, said many people were more concerned about issues relating to the nuclear family, to the neglect of the extended one, resulting in the high number of child delinquency cases in the country.
According to her because parents focused more on the nuclear family, they did not extend a lending hand to their nieces, nephews and other extended family members who were in need of assistance.
Mrs Zakpaa said when that happened, the affected children became adventurous and migrated to the urban communities in search of greener pastures but ended up on the streets.
She said, for instance, that in the past when a child lost his or her parents, relatives in the extended family often took charge of the child.
But now because of the breakdown of the extended family system, the orphaned child was left to fend for himself because there was no family bond to cause such relatives to help.
She attributed the situation to busy schedules, while other people blindly copied the Western culture which was more concerned about the nuclear family.
She noted that although the nuclear family was important, it was also vital that at least, one person who was in need in the extended family was catered for by each nuclear family.
�This will help reduce the high incidence of social vices among children in society,� she said.
Mrs Zakpaa asked parents to regularly visit members of their extended families, so that their children would know and build bonds with them.
This year�s celebration of the International Family Day was targeted at children.
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