As South Africa marks Child Protection Month, there is a growing call for families and communities to take a more proactive role in safeguarding children. This follows a rise in cases of child neglect and abuse, with several harrowing incidents reported across the country.
Speaking on VOC Breakfast, activist and founder of the Philisa Abafazi Bethu Women and Family Centre, Lucinda Evans, expressed deep concern over the state of child protection in the country, describing it as a crisis that demands urgent, collective action.
“My heart as a mother and as a woman is very troubled. If we look at what is currently happening in general within our communities, in homes and in families, it’s troublesome,” said Evans.
She emphasised that while parents often carry immense guilt when something happens to their children, the responsibility of child protection must be shared by society as a whole.
“At no point do I blame any parent for any bad that happens to their children. As parents, you will feel the most guilt for the rest of your life if something happens to your child,” she said.
“As communities, we need to do better. It is all of us that really needs to do better. We need to speak up as a collective when we see children are not being supervised. We need to adopt the mindset that we would rather seek help via social development or child protective services to assist the child and/or parent.”
Listen to the full interview below:
VOC News
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