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The Ministry of Women, Children and Social Protection, has began a series of regional consultative fora to create awareness and galvanize support for a new child protection policy which is being developed. The fora are also serving as platforms to expose the draft policy to the implementing partners at the regional and district levels, so as to validate their roles as proposed in the document. Mrs. Latifa Abobo Sidique, Upper West Regional Director of the Department of Children who disclosed this at a regional forum in Wa on Wednesday, said to ensure that the policy was evidence based, a baseline survey had been conducted to provide essential data and to influence the direction of the policy. She said the policy is intended to contribute to current reflections in the country towards the creation of a child protection system that mirrors the needs and aspirations of the nation. The National Secretariat had constituted teams that comprise the Directors of Departments of Children, Social Welfare and Community Development, to embark on the consultations at both the national and regional levels, she added. Mr Clarke Noyoru, Monitoring and Evaluation Officer of the Department of Children, in a presentation, noted that there was currently no comprehensive policy on child protection in the country. As a result, the system was not geared towards preventing issues such as child marriages, exploitative child labour and other forms of child abuse, prevalent in the society, but was rather always responding to them when they occurred. He called on the participants to come out with ideas that would fit the needs of children in the region in the final policy document.