Child Protection Teams become go-to groups for reuniting lost children with their families

13/7/2018

In the last few months, Child Protection Teams in Uganda have been called upon by police to trace two families of children stranded at local stations.

Nakku Sarah had a busy day planned when she was approached by the Officer in Charge at Masese I Police post. She has been a member of the local Child Protection Team in her area since it was set up in 2016. These groups of 10 elected and trained local volunteers work closely with their communities to create a safer environment for children in the slum areas around Jinja town.

Lost children are often brought to the teams by local people when found wandering, sometimes miles from home. Child Protection Teams have become the ‘go-to’ for their communities because of the dedicated work they accomplish on behalf of vulnerable children. Reflecting the quality of this work, they have quickly become the first port of call not only with residents but also with the local authorities.

That morning, the Officer told Sarah that they had a young boy left with them at the station, and no idea how to find his parents. A particular challenge to identifying his family and the whereabouts of his home, was communicating with the boy who is deaf, cannot speak and struggles to walk.

Sarah immediately agreed to begin tracing the boy’s parents. She notified the rest of the Child Protection Team who met to plan a way forward, in that meeting they focussed on engaging the community to see if anyone knew the family.

She said, “It was a really challenging moment for me, meeting a stranded child with many disabilities. While leaving the police post I kept on wondering what to do! But I am very grateful that as a team we were able to forge a way forward”.

After spending hours interviewing local people, the search did not turn out to be fruitful. Undeterred, the team approached ‘Kodheyo’; one of the local television station, and requested a five minute slot to show the boy and appeal to the public to help in finding his family. As a result, by the next day the boy’s family made contact with the Child Protection Team and the police reunited them with their son.

Sarah described how “Being a CPT member, I had to pick up my courage, because all I had to do that day was work for the betterment of this child’s life. I had to forego everything I had planned and help the child. I doubt whether I could have gone that extra mile had I not been a CPT member. From that day I realised that the way I look and address child protection has changed”.

A few weeks later, it was the Masese III Child Protection Team who were called on to help with a similar case. A missing girl ended up at the Central Police Station in Jinja town, and said she was from Masese III. After meeting the child, and conducting neighbourhood enquires, the team quickly found her parents, and were delighted to reunite the family.

Success stories like this are a result of teams working over months and years to forge a healthy connection between the community and the police. This work often takes the form of workshops and meetings, and has created a greater understanding, openness and trust between between local people and nearby services.

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