Child neglect in Nandi County on the rise, children’s department reveals.
Children’s department in Nandi County has revealed that child neglect in the region was on the rise.
According to the department, parents had become negligent and abandoned their responsibility of taking care of their children and guiding them away from vices.
County coordinator children services Ms Hellen Wanyama said there were over 1,000 cases of child neglect reported to their office in the last financial year.
She decried that majority of the children had been left to sail through life on their own.
“Parents have left their respnsbilities and only rely on authorities to provide sex education and other matters,” said Ms Wanyama.
The coordinator accused parents of avoiding sex topics with their children leading to increasing cases of teenage pregnancy.
“Because of the parents’ negligence, most young girls have become victims of early pregnancies,” she argued.
Wanyama said an office had been set up to supplement parenting through recruitment of volunteer child protection services and to tackle issues of early pregnancies and child neglect.
“We also have other strategies including location area advisory council chaired by the area chiefs,” she revealed.
The outcry comes at the time when children are out of schools due to the Covid-19 pandemic with authorities raising red flag that cases of early pregnancies were on the rise.