The Ghana NGO Forum has urged government to ensure the full release of the ¢300 million to adequately fund and implement existing policies and legal instruments to protect children.
The fund was part of the 2018 Budget allocation to support child protection activities.
They charged Parliament and the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection to enforce the policies and legal instruments on child protection, such as the Child and Family Welfare Policy and Foster Care Regulations.
These were contained in a communiqué, signed by Madam Mawuena Hayibor, the Project Director, Ghana NGO Group, and copied to the Ghana News Agency in Accra.
The Forum expressed appreciation to the President Akufo-Addo "for the support provided so far to vulnerable and struggling families".
They include investments in the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty, Capitation Grants, National Health Insurance Scheme, Free Maternal Care, Free School Uniforms and Bus Rides, the School Feeding Policy and the Early Childhood Care and Development Policy.
During the Forum, the group concluded that the family was the primary unit in which children thrived, therefore, it must be supported in every way possible to perform its role in the healthy development of the child.
The Forum highlighted the responsibility for protecting children from neglect, saying the "state is responsible for caring for out-of-home children".
The Government must, therefore, "reflect an understanding of this lead role in its display of strong political will, strengthened legal framework, and above all adequate resource allocation and investment into the implementation of child protection policies and plans."
The Forum also charged "NGOs and other Civil Society Organizations to play their role, one aspect of which is keeping government accountable in the provision of essential services for children in compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child."
The NGO Forum urged faith-based organisations, including churches, mosques and shrines to use their platforms to discourage malpractices and violence against children.
These groups were to educate their members and officers on preventing and responding to child neglect and abuse cases in line with the relevant government policies.
Parents must also be engaged and educated in the care and protection of their children.
"This, particularly, applies to fathers who have traditionally been absent when it comes to childcare," it said.
As part of suggestions to firm up the issue of child protection, it called for a non-partisan technical group to advise the Presidency on issues to do with child protection, possibly an Inter-ministerial Coordinating Committee on Child Protection, chaired by the President or the Vice President.
There should be well-trained and resourced social workers to increase community awareness, respond promptly to incidents of abuses and strengthen families in communities across the country.
The Ghana NGO Forum agreed to commit their collective efforts to ensure the successful implementation of the policies around child protection.
"We are committed to engage the national leaders, faith-based organisations, traditional authorities and other important stakeholders to actively contribute their time and energies to ensure the successful implementation of the policies.
"We resolve to work together as a Civil Society Coalition to hold government accountable to its mandate with regard to preventing child neglect".