Child labour in rural and urban Ghana: Stakeholders and parental perceptions of working children and culture-appropriate assessment
Author Identifier
Obed Adonteng-Kissi: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9324-7138
Document Type
Book Chapter
Publication Title
The Routledge Handbook of Child and Family Social Work Research: Knowledge-Building, Application, and Impact
First Page
827
Last Page
843
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
School
School of Arts and Humanities
RAS ID
72497
Abstract
In Ghana, it is generally accepted that work forms part of the socio-political and cultural setting for childhood, and does not occur in a vacuum. Children acquire skills critical to their culture through participation in the day-to-day work of the societies in which they live, and this participation contributes constructively to the general development of children since they acquire important skills such as learning to work, cooperating with others, becoming responsible citizens, and helping build societies and communities. Social workers’ understanding of cultural responsiveness in the assessment of child labour is essential, and their sensitivity to local context is important in understanding the principle of the best interests of the child. The complicated setting for research exploring child labour is impacted by the varied professional and social values concerning child protection and child labour. The field of child protection evokes strong emotions, values, and beliefs about child labour, and what “child labour” means. Professional choices and intellectual work are reflected in the discussion of these disputed concepts. Social work practices are improved by understanding cultural diversity and learning from individuals’ experiences and the meaning contained in their worldviews. Individuals’ particular beliefs and worldviews are often so intricately entrenched in their cultural settings that their influence may sometimes be underestimated. Having greater insight into diversity in cultural understanding of work processes and work socialisation may assist social workers to carry out child protections assessment in a manner that is in the best interests of the child, as well as meet parental cultural expectations. This chapter explores stakeholder and parental perceptions of the engagement of children in work, and beliefs and constructs about children’s work in a Ghanaian context. The research encompasses agencies and NGOs; parents who engage their children in work, and parents who do not. The study used semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, and participant observation as methods of data collection, and a framework approach to the analysis of the qualitative data collected. Findings consider the benefits of culturally responsive practice, and the potential benefits of further use of research into parenting with Ghanaian and other traditional cultural populations. In the view of most participants, whether engaging children in work was a violation of the rights of the child depended on the nature, extent, and purpose of the work. Further, some parents who were deeply immersed in their culture were more probably going to be unconscious of or reject the notion of human rights. This was linked to the belief that children are not sufficiently mature to make critical decisions that possibly have high costs.
DOI
10.4324/9781003241492-56
Access Rights
subscription content
Comments
Adonteng-Kissi, O. (2024). Child labour in rural and urban Ghana: Stakeholders and parental perceptions of working children and culture-appropriate assessment. In The Routledge handbook of child and family social work research (pp. 827-843). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003241492-56