During the study it was established that social welfare officers encounter myriad challenges during the process of rehabilitating child offenders. The participants were requested to indicate some of the challenges that they experienced in rehabilitating the incarcerated child offenders.
5.2.5.1 Lack of organizational resources
The participants pointed some of the resources in the organization that were lacking. It was indicated that the social welfare department had limited office space which could not facilitate the effective counseling of the child offenders. The offices did not provide any privacy hence making confidentiality impossible. It was also indicated that the social welfare officers were providing the service with inadequate transport. This impeded their roles in that home visits could not be conducted in time. The other challenge that the participants pointed out was the lack of recreational facilities. It was stated that some of the programs like inmate care required that the child offenders utilize recreational facilities but to no avail.
The conclusion from the above was that social welfare officers were operating from offices that were not conducive to provide the service designated in child justice which compromised on privacy and confidentiality. The social welfare department also does not have enough transport to meet the needs of the institutions and that there is a lack of recreational facilities for the child offenders.
Recommendations:
The social welfare department should ensure that social welfare officers occupy offices that create an optimum environment for offering child justice services. Social welfare officers are not supposed to share offices due to the nature of the cases ‘sensitive’ they deal with. The social welfare department must ensure that transport is provided at the institutions. Recreational facilities must be installed at all the institutions providing rehabilitation
122 5.2.5.2 Anti-social and deviant behavior among child offenders
The anti-social and deviant behavior among the child offenders was one of the challenges indicated to impede the rehabilitation of child offenders. The participants indicated that this was one of the most common challenges that were experienced by social welfare officers. The participants alluded that the abuse of substances and alcohol was the main grounds on which the above challenge was premised. Some of the participants asserted this to lack of proper security at the institutions. More so, the other factor that was mentioned to have led to anti- social behavior and attitude problems among the child offenders was the fact that at times more attention was given to educational programs rather than behavioral modification programs.
The conclusion is that the child offenders have access to alcohol and other intoxicating substances which in the end lead to anti-social behavior and attitude problems. Also that, an imbalance between educational and behavioral modification programs can lead to child offenders exhibiting behavioral problems.
Recommendations:
Substance abuse programs should be strengthened in the institutions
There should be a balance in the provision of education and behavioral modification programs to ensure various needs of the child offenders are met.
Institutions must provide adequate security to ensure that the child offenders are kept within the confinement of the penitentiary.
5.2.5.3 Lack of human resources
It was indicated by the majority of the participants that the lack of manpower greatly affects the service delivery in child justice. In view of this, the participants attributed the above lag due to lack of enough social welfare officers. An example was projected were Lusaka district had nine (45%) social welfare officers catering for a population of three million people. The other attribute was that there was a lack of other support professionals to execute child justice programs.
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The conclusion was that number of social welfare officers does not correlate with the population of the catchment area. There was need to include other support professionals on board if the child justice services would be delivered effectively.
Recommendations:
The government must advocate for more people to train as social workers so that the lag in the social work profession can be met.
Professionals that providing the supporting role in child justice must be employed
5.2.5.4 Lengthy criminal proceedings at the high court
The lengthy criminal proceedings at the high court were one of the challenges identified. A good number of the participants gave an indication that the lengthy criminal proceeding was one of the challenges that social welfare officers experienced. One of the attributes to this challenge was the lack of transport and that judges took long to finalize the cases.
In conclusion, some cases at the high court take long because the institutions do not have transport to ferry the child offenders to and from court and also that some judges take long to finalize the cases.
Recommendations:
High court judges must consider finalizing all cases involving child offenders within the shortest possible time.
The government must provide the institutions with transport to ensure that child offenders are not delayed to appear in court.
5.2.5.5 Lack of knowledge by social welfare officers to execute the programs
Some of the participants mentioned that the lag in knowledge by some social welfare officers was one of the challenges that were being experienced. The attributes to this assertion were that quite a good number 9 (45%) of the social welfare officers did not have social work training. The poor quality reports compiled by some social welfare officers were attributed to the lack of training in social work as well. More so, the fact that the social welfare department
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was not conducting any training meant that the social welfare officers may lack some knowledge.
In conclusion, it can be stated that some social welfare officers’ lack of training in social work limits their ability of effectively rehabilitate child offenders. The social welfare officers seem to have limited counseling skills.
Recommendations:
Only social workers registered with the professional body (suggested earlier) should be allowed to practice to ensure that child justice services are executed by officers with the appropriate knowledge and skills.
The institutions offering training in social work should consider introducing a Para-social work training course that is comprised of basic social work skills in all the methods. This is meant to equip the social welfare officers without a qualification in social work with the appropriate knowledge and skills to execute social work roles.
5.2.5.6 Lack of coordination of social welfare department with the police department
A small fraction of participants indicated that there was a lack of coordination between the social welfare officers and the police officers. It was established that some of the police officers did not have a good approach towards work.
The conclusion was that there was lack of proper coordination in how to execute child justice roles between the social welfare officers and the police. It also seemed as though the social welfare officers were putting the blame of lack of proper coordination on the police officers.
Recommendations:
Social welfare officers to have joint trainings on child justice with the police officers so that their roles are clearly spelt out. Having joint trainings is also likely to strengthen the working relationships between the departments.
The Inter-ministerial coordination among ministries providing child justice services should be strengthened to ensure effective service delivery in child justice.
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