Joy For Children Uganda as a prevention centre has continued to give the much needed support to survivors of Violence Against Children during the COVID19 pandemic.
In the midst of pandemic’s limitations, JFCU team receives, registers and offers help to every reported case both physically and on phone. “On a weekly basis, about two cases of violence are reported physically and about four cases are reported through phone calls.” say JFCU officer.
Due to difficulty related to COVID19, some victims are not helped since they cannot come to JFCU to report violence cases. For instance, movement is restricted because of the imposed Standard Operating Procedures that require a public vehicle to carry half of its standard passenger number. This has led to raised transport fare in a season where income sources are no more or the flow of income has been reduced due to the lockdown that was imposed by the Government of Uganda for 3 months in 2020.
SCOPE OF WORK
A JFCU officer expresses that the most common cases reported during this period are defilement and child neglect.
JFCU runs an Urgent Action Fund that applies to specific areas. “We focus on our area of operation to support the investigations and ensure police arrest the offender and also pay for medical check ups for cases only in Mugusu Sub County.”
This implies that those outside JFCU’s area of operation suffer because we are not able to fully support them.
HOW WE HELP SURVIVORS
JFCU provides psycho social support to survivors of violence and their parents or caregivers. The survivors are also taken into hospital for checkup incases of defilement as it is important to work hand in hand with the Police to see that the evidence needed to prosecute the culprit is obtained.
Defilement cases are challenging; sometimes they do not go well when they get to the court level according to a JFCU officer, “This concern was raised during the District Action Centre meeting and a team was selected to visit the State Attorney to rectify such issues.”
For cases that require more support or are out of JFCU’s scope; “We refer them to the appropriate organisations and Government agencies such as Police.” says JCFU officer.
RESTORATIVE MEASURES.
We do follow up on survivors. Most cases are a success because we handle them with other stakeholders. 3 of 5 rescue cases of Violence Against Children cases reported to Joy for children Uganda are successful. says the JFCU officer.
In case a girl is found pregnant, JFCU team provides counselling to both the girl and her parents with hope that the parent’s hearts are softened to accept to take their daughter back to school and also care for the baby.
We go further to engage the school authorities to accept the girl in school. says the JFCU officer.
