Child Abandonment And Its Implications For Educational Development In Nigeria

Abstract

This is a position paper that examined child abandonment and its implications for educational development in Nigeria. Child abandonment is a common social phenomenon in Nigeria and the rate at which the act is been committed calls for serious action by all in order to minimize the impact of this ugly menace on our society. The paper therefore identified the causes and effects of child abandonment which ranges from family conflicts, barbaric cultural practices, poverty and homelessness, and intra/inters ethnic conflicts among others. The paper emphasis that when a child is abandoned, the child is faced with physical, behavioural, psychological consequences and the society faces the bulk of these consequences. It was recommended amongst others that government should ensure strict monitoring of the child rights acts in all the states, conflicts in the family should be settled amicably, youths and intending parents should be properly counselled on the roles of parenting. It was concluded that education is a vital tool which should be used as an instrument to minimize child abandonment in the society.

Why and how do parents secretly abandon their children? The psychosocial burden they went through: Qualitative case study in Gondar City, Ethiopia

“…In terms of why parents abandon their children, the present study depicted that sociocultural factors alongside economic hardships are behind parent's child abandonment. This nding is in line with the literature that mentioned sociocultural and poverty related factors for child abandonment (Delaunay, 2011;Onyido & Akpan, 2018). Likewise, a study in Nigeria, that examined the perception of market mothers towards dumping children, it was depicted that multiple factors are responsible for parents to damp their children (Ojedokun & Atoi, 2012).…”

“…For example, Delaunay (2011) argued that a number of sociocultural beliefs and practices (attitudes about abnormal births, births from a single mother) contribute to child abandonment. Likewise, Onyido & Akpan (2018) mentioned that in Nigeria parents abandon their children because of many related factors that include family con icts, barbaric cultural practices, poverty and homelessness.…”

Is Rejection, Parental Abandonment or Neglect a Trigger for Higher Perceived Shame and Guilt in Adolescents?

“…Neglect represents a risk factor for children’s physical and psychological well-being. Child abuse can be defined as ‘the deliberate use of force, physically or psychologically to carry out acts that have the possibility of causing developmental disruption as well as injury to the mental and physical state of a child’ [ 9 ]. Children, as victims of abuse and neglect, show high levels of shame [ 8 ].…”

Ten Years of Retrospective Profiling of the Abandoned Fetuses and Newborns

“…It literally means to withdraw helo or support from the person. Abandonment as such got its origin from an Anglo-French word "abandoner" that was further derived from the phrase "a bundun" which is to hand over, thus, abandon is let go or lose interest in something, to hold back one affection and love towards a person [3].…”