Parental Knowledge and Attitude towards Child's Rights-An Indian Perspective

Background: Children are the pillars of a nation. Every child has the right to live happily and protected. The family and parents are the first line protection for the children. Children commonly experience lack of Child's rights in developing countries.

Objectives: This study investigated parent's awareness and attitude towards Child's rights needs at the family and community levels in India.

Materials and Methods: This descriptive study surveyed 106 parents at a tertiary care center. Subject selection employed a random sampling method. Study criteria included the following (a) either male or female (b) willing to participate. Subjects meeting these criteria were interviewed after providing written consent. Data were collected using face -to -face interviews based on a structured needs assessment questionnaire. Data were analyzed and interpreted using descriptive and inferential statistics. This study was carried out at a tertiary care centre in a community set up among parents visiting the outpatient department between April and May 2012.

Results: Majority of the parent's had (81.14%) average level of knowledge where 17.92% of the parent's had good knowledge and 00.94% had poor knowledge regarding Children's Rights in all the dimensions regarding Children's Rights which included health, education, equality, and protection needs dimensions of the needs assessment questionnaire but at the same time majority of the parent's had neutral attitude towards children's rights. A positive correlation was found (r = 0.50, p < 0.05), between knowledge (mean = 20.92, SD = 3.37) and attitude (mean =107.77, SD =10.10) scores of parent's regarding children's rights. Further, a statistically significant association was found between men and women (χ² = 9.65, p < 0.05), on the statement "Children should have the right to quality child care" (χ² = 10.66, p < 0.05).

Conclusion: This study suggests that parents and communities need to be educated regarding the need of children's rights and that legislation must be strengthened to meet the child rights of every child in the nation.