Akwa Ibom judge urges database for children in alternative care

Akwa Ibom State High Court judge Theresa Obot has urged the state government to create a comprehensive database of children in alternative care and monitor their welfare regularly. Obot made the call on Saturday in Uyo while delivering a keynote address at an alternative-care conference organised by Street Mentors Network. The event focused on mobilising families to support vulnerable children who cannot safely live with their biological families.

She said the state had no reliable data showing how many children were in alternative care, creating a protection risk. She urged the government to document placements and conduct follow-up visits to determine whether children were safe and properly supported. Alternative care can include kinship care, foster care, guardianship, family-based arrangements and, where necessary, residential care.

Obot said these arrangements must be structured around safety, stability, dignity, belonging and development. The judge also warned that some children could be exposed to inappropriate detention when their ages were manipulated by law-enforcement personnel. She said family courts should ensure that children’s interests did not disappear beneath disputes between adults.

Obot identified possible consequences of family conflict, including emotional trauma, domestic violence, neglect, disrupted education, abuse, abandonment, trafficking and exploitation. She said custody should not be used to reward or punish a parent, and that children should not be treated as either parent’s property. She commended Akwa Ibom’s Child Rights Law, enacted in 2008, and noted that the state had legislation prohibiting the branding of a child as a witch or wizard.

Street Mentors Network executive director Anita Michael said the conference sought practical ways to protect children unable to remain with their biological parents.