The Irony of Child Protection: A qualitative analysis of social workers and police officers’ challenges in supporting the rights of victims of child marriage

Social workers and the police are key frontline workers providing intervention against the practice of child marriage. However, the challenges they experience have received little attention in the literature on child marriage. This paper seeks to contribute to emerging literature by exploring the challenges frontline workers face when intervening in a child marriage situation in Ghana. The study utilizes semi-structured interviews to collect data from six frontline workers and analyses the data thematically. The study found that frontline workers follow a common practice of prematurely reintegrating rescued victims back into the environment where child marriage is encouraged. This raises awareness of what we called the child protection irony which is inconsistent with the constitution and the child welfare policies in Ghana. As a result, the girls is left alone to battle their way out of child marriage while the perpetrators remain unpunished. The findings suggest a need for collaboration between child protection agencies to ensure that child welfare laws and resource allocations are implemented effectively to safeguard children’s rights.