Mr Gbeawu Daniel Y. Nonah, Acting Director of the Department of Social Welfare has attributed the increase in street children in major cities of the country to the breakdown of the extended Family system.

“Parents tend to get involved with their community more often than people living alone. What's more, they teach their children at a young age that the only way they can control what kind of community they have is to contribute to it. When parents contribute to their community by donating money or needed supplies.”

These were in a statement signed by Mr Nonah and copied to the Ghana News Agency on Friday to commemorate the International day of the Family on the theme;” Families in Development.”

International Family day is an occasion to celebrate the importance of the family and the benefits from the family and to reflect on how families were affected by changing social and economic trends, and what could be done to strengthen families in response especially during this COVID-19 era. The statement said the purpose of families was to maintain the well-being of its members and of society.

“Ideally, families would offer predictability, structure, and safety as members mature and participate in the community. In most societies, it is within families that children acquire socialization for life outside the family.

“Additionally, as the basic unit for meeting the basic needs of its members, it provides a sense of boundaries for performing tasks in a safe environment, ideally builds a person into a functional adult, transmits culture, and ensures continuity of humankind with precedents of knowledge.

The statement said Parents and sibling were the closest and the biggest security in our families.

“The kind of person we become depends of the families we grow in. “ It said the theme focused on the importance of the family, the basic social unit called the family was tasked with meeting the basic needs of those family members who could not provide for themselves. “This include; minors, the elderly and disabled, or simply those who can't afford to live by themselves. Basic needs such as food, water, shelter, and clean air are accessible when one or more members can provide these things for the whole family.

“Families spend so much time and energy supporting each other through difficult times because of the bonds they've created and nurtured since the time each of them became a part of the family.

“The community benefits when the family relieves it of the burden of supporting members of that family.

The statement said Healthy families produced people who made positive contributions to the community too.”