Tema, Jan. 09, GNA - The Tema office of the Department of Social Welfare in 2007 handled 2,013 complaints of which 120 were referred to the family tribunal.

The department recorded a total of 360 cases of maintenance of children, 371 family reconciliation cases and 1,162 medical social works. A document made available to the Ghana News Agency in Tema by officials of the department showed that the department referred cases to the family tribunal when it could not get the partners to come to a consensus. Medical social works that included abandoned children were cases referred to the department by the hospitals.

The records gave the break down of the medical social work as 464 in the first quarter, 432 in the second quarter and 266 in third quarter. Cases involving the maintenance of children had a break down of 79 in the first, 140 quarter in the second and 141 in the third quarters. The department also investigated a total of 2,274 cases for the magistrate and circuit courts as well as non-governmental organizations.