CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
- 1 Background of the Study
Children
are precious gift from the almighty God. Children are a heritage from God,
children are a reward from Him. They need to be cared for, loved, cherished,
appreciated and adored in a reliable manner. In African context, children are
so regarded that a family without a child is seen as incomplete institution.
According
to Onuzulike (2002) generally stated that a child is an individual under the
age of eighteen years. Child abuse is defined as the portion of harm done to a
child who may be from human action or inaction that is proscribed or proximate
and preventable. Preventable here implies that it is not accidental but
intentionally inflicted on the child by perpetrator who does not care about the
outcome.
Child
abuse as a social problem has only recently opined recognition and attention of
the Nigeria public. This was as a result of an organization known as the
African Network for prevention and protection against child abuse and neglect
(ANPPCAN) which was set up in (1984) by some African countries including
Nigeria.
Their aim was to look into the area of
child abuse and neglect, 25 pertains to Africa, since the Nigeria has formed
its own chapter of the network which was inaugurated in (1986) and this body
has held a couple of conference in an effort to defined and identify aspects of
child abuse within the society. The African network for prevention and
protection against child abuse and neglect (1999) defines child abuse as denial
of the basic rights and need of the child by parents, schools, government and
society. According to Ekpe (2001), also
stated that “Neglect” implies a disorder in parent child relationship
characterized by a failure of parent to provide for the child the personal values
and the child suffers from lack of attention, malnutrition and lack of
stimulation.
Anukam
(2002) said that in emotional abuse, the parent was so depended on the child
that the parent child role was reserved. The child is laid upon the burden of
fending for himself and his limited capabilities; he cannot meet the demands
and therefore becomes frustrated. The child may want to run away from the
family environment and it’s hardship. Sexual abuse implies sexual harassment
given to a child by parents, caregivers, teachers, and so on without the
child’s consent and understanding. Kalu (2003) also stated that reflected or
physically or sexually abused children performed poor in school; they receive
lower states than no-maltreated children. Against this background, this work is
aimed at or examines the nature, causes, and aspects of child abuse and neglect
in Nigeria.
The main background of the study
exposes the problems inherent in a non-computer based database system.
An
organization like African Network for prevention and protection against child
abuse and neglect (ANPPCAN) encountered serious problems in the area of
documentations which include misplacement of vital information or cases, as a
result of large volume of work handled, duplicated or efforts due to
inconsistency in activities, and a lot of time spent ins searching for files or
reports when needed for processing.
1.2 Statement
of the problem
For
a system to require some modification or replacement or enhancement, there must
be some existing problems associated with the old or existing system that
prompted to it. This organization faces numerous problems due to the manual
methods of recording which may include:
i.
Inefficient and
ineffective security measures in order to avoid loss of data by unauthorized
users.
ii.
The keeping and
retrieval of accurate data or records on child abuse, complainant and offenders
which are poorly carried out.
iii.
Wrongly filed and placed, hence it is not
easy to obtain accurate information
iv.
The length of time
required for processing client report is much
v.
Keeping folders of
report manually takes a lot of time, money and some of the information is
redundant.
vi.
It is unreliable and
accurate
vii.
It results to
unnecessary duplication of reports
viii.
It causes loss of
documents
1.3 Objectives
of the study
The
main objective of the project is to fully understand the existing system and to
identify the basic information requirement and then discuss now the
computerization of the system can assist in eradicating the problems of
non-computer based system. The purpose of this project is to design and
implement a system that will solve the problem of misplacement of vital
reported cases, documents and records, duplication of efforts, and time taken
or needed to process files and records.
The
specific objectives includes:
i.
To design a
functionally database system
ii.
To compute and achieve
child abuse records
iii.
To process and achieve
each record
iv.
To analyze each record
v.
To produce event report
in demand
1.4 Scope
of the Study
This
study was limited within or to African Network for prevention and protection
against child Abuse and Neglect (ANPPCAN), Enugu. This is to achieve the
targeted area of the study.
1.5 Significance
of the Study
Child
abuse and child neglect are social problem that affects a significant number of
people, about which something must be done by designing a computerized child
abuse and neglect database management system.
When
finding from this study are implemented, it will help the staff in ANPPCAN,
Enugu to solve the problem associated with inability to keep accurate reports
and records effectively and acid loss of data or reported cases, and also the
Nigeria to be aware of the rate of child trafficking. This work will also be
beneficial to academic who want to do further research of the area.
1.6 Limitation
of the Study
This
work will only compute the child abused, complainant and offenders’ records,
the system will require constraints internet facility to enable the user to
access the platform.
1.7 Definition
of Terms
i.
Child:
Child is defined as the dependent person in the
custody of a parent or guardian for protection of his/her life.
ii.
Abuse:
It is any deliberate act by a person, group of
person in the society designed to inflict on a child mentally, physically
sexually or emotionally.
iii.
Neglect:
This usually occur when families fail to or on their own part fail to provide
the necessary need for their children such as food, medical care, being
deprived of essential need of life.
iv.
ANPPCAN:
African Network for Prevention and Protection
against Child Abuse and Neglect.
v.
Child
Abuse: This is a child this is physically,
sexually, emotionally or psychologically maltreated by the parent, caregivers,
teachers or group of persons.
vi.
Complainant:
A complainant is a person who lodges a complaint. It
is a term used in content of criminal law to refer to person who alleges that
another person committed a criminal act against him/her in a legal way. It is a
person who reports a case or crime.
vii.
Offender:
This is a person who commits an illegal act. He/she is a criminal and guilty of
an offence.