DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A COMPUTER BASED CHILD CARE INFORMATION SYSTEM
 ABSTRACT
           In the world over, it is indisputable that the introduction of computer technology in different facets of life, has virtually transformed and enhanced information processing which is very vital in any organization or parastatals of government. Not only as  means of information processing, the technology has also proved to the faceted means of information retrieval which forms the nucleus of this study.
          This research word centers on using a computer to record, store and retrieve reported and illnesses, the name of illness and year it spread, the country affected, total population of children affected and total population not affected.
          A detailed design of a computerized approach that will bring the much needed innovation is given. Also included in this masterpiece is a proper documentation for the new system design.
  TABLE OF CONTENTS                                                   
ORGANISATION OF WORK                                            
CHAPTER ONE
1.0     INTRODUCTION                                                   
1.1     HISTORICAL BACKGROUND                               
1.2     STATE OF THE PROBLEM                                   
1.3     PURPOSE OF THE STUDY                                   
1.4     AIMS AND OBJECTIVES                                                
1.5     SCOPE OF THE STUDY                                        
1.6     LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY                              
1.7     DEFINITION OF TERMS                                       
CHAPTER TWO                                                    
2.0     LITERATURE REVIEW
CHAPTER THREE
3.0     DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS OF THE
EXISTING SYSTEM
3.1        DESCRIPTION OF THE EXISTING SYSTEM
3.2        FACT-FINDING
3.3        ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE
3.4        OBJECTIVES OF EXSTING SYSTEM
3.5        INPUT, PROCESS AND OUTPUT ANALYSIS
3.6        INFORMATION FLOW DIAGRAM
3.7        PROBLEMS OF THE EXISTING SYSTEM
3.8        JUSTIFICATION OF THE NEW SYSTEM
CHAPTER FOUR
4.0        DESIGN OF THE NEW SYSTEM
4.1     OUTPUT SPEICFICATION AND DESIGN
4.2        INPUT SPECIFICATION AND DESIGN
4.3        FILE DESIGN
4.4        PROCEDURE CHART
4.5        SYSTEM FLOW CHART
4.6        SYSTEM SPECIFICATION
CHAPTER FIVE
5.0        IMPLEMENTATION
5.1     PROGRAM DESIGN
5.2     PROGRAM FLOWCHART
5.3        PSEUDOCODE
5.4        SOURCE PROGRAM
CHAPTER SIX
6.0        DOCUMENTATION
CHAPTER SEVEN
7.0     RECOMMENDATION AND CONLUSION
7.1        RECOMMENDATION
7.2        CONCLUSION
REFERENCES
 HAPTER ONE
1.0    INTRODUCTION
          In every child who comes into this world, the hopes and dreams of the human race are born a new. Children are bearers of our common future a future that is in our hands as never before. For the world has the knowledge, the resources and the legal imperatives to give every child the best possible start in life, in a family environments that offers the love, the care and the maturing that children need to grow, to learn and to develop to the fullest.
          But still these children are being exposed to all diverse kind of mistreatments ranging from child labor, violence, abuse, neglect and commercial sexual exploitation of children. Children are more vulnerable than adults to being hurt, neglected, abused and exploited. Their survival is at risk and their full development is compromised. Violence against children occurs within families, in schools and communities.
          However, the need to care for these children so as to meet the increasing and challenge demand arose. Thus, man resolves to help to mobilize a Global movement for children an unstoppable crusade to end, at long last, the poverty, ill health, violence and discrimination that have needlessly blighted and destroyed so many young lives. In this juncture, there is need to know who a child is and what child abuse and neglect is. In traditional and even contemporary Africa, various ethnic groups have different concepts who a child is while some see one as a child so far he cannot contribute to the development of the society, others see him in terms example, Olukoshi et al (1990) posited that:
          “there is not one acceptable age, which is considered as a worthy definition of the upper limit of childhood begins in terms of the right to vote and be voted for and the age considered the federal ministry of youth and culture, and education as being upper limit of childhood differs… ”
          even internationally, there are divergent definitions as to who a child is. The OAU charter defines a child as “every human being below the ages of eighteen (18) years” even though there are divergent opinions and views as to what is the age limit of a child, it is the view of the author, that a child is anybody between the birth to the completion of physiological/psychological and physical development. In other words, anybody between zero of his/her birth to eighteen (18) years is a CHILD.
          Child neglect is connoted act of omission, denial or even giving basic needs, rights and deeds of the child by parents/ guardians, which may or may not necessarily impair the well being of a child. Neglect can also take the form of inadequate provision of resources for the welfare of the child both now and in future.
          Child care on the other hand represents an area of programming targeted at “children in need of special protection measures”. There are children who are victims of or belong to, groups which are especially vulnerable to, various kinds of abuse, exploitation, violence and abandonment.
          Vulnerable groups include children affected by armed conflict or by other situations of emergency, children engaged in hazardous or exploitative labour, including those who are trafficked, children deprived of parental protection due to AIDS, children subjected to sexual exploitation and abuse, children living with disabilities and children in conflict with the law.
          Because of the above situations, communities need to be strengthened and families supported to provide the necessary care  to improve child survival, development. Families need knowledge, skills, motivation and support . they need to know what to do in specific circumstances and ass the children grow and develop, they need skills to provide appropriate care and to solve problems. They need to be motivated to try and to sustain new practices. They need social and material support form the community. And finally need support form the health centers/system, in the form of accessible clinics responsible services and health workers should have to give effective advice, drugs, and  more complex treatment when necessary.
 1.1    HISTORICL BACKGROUD OF THE STUDY
          The creation of the United Nation in 1945 represented the  coming of age of an ideal international co-operation. Its immediate spur was the destruction caused by world war, 11, but behind this laid a longer term desire to promote world peace. There were however, no ideas of setting up within the constellation of new institutions, a special organization for children. The creation in 1946 of the United Nations international children’s Emergency fund was an accident of early cold war politics.
          The prospects in Europe were grim. The writer of 1946-1947 was particularly bitter. Millions of people were still without proper shelter. Few clothing or food. Children especially were suffering in some affected areas; half of all babies were dying before their first birthday. The Allies, anticipating widespread devastation of the end of the war, had established the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) in 1943 to provide general assistance. But the iron curtain descended, and the United States Government refused to go on using UNRRA as a relief channel because it was aiding countries in both western and Eastern Europe.  
          Just as UNRRA was about to be wound up, however, voices were raised at its final meeting in Geneva to protest the fate of Europe’s children. The delegate from Poland, Ludwig Rajclman, was particularly vocal, and the meeting accepted the proposal that UNRRA’S residual resources should be put to work for children through a UN international children’s Emergency fund an ICEF. Subsequently, On 11 December 1946, a resolution of the UN General Assembly No. 59 (1) – brought UNICEF into limelight.
          UNICEF was established to help children damaged by war. But it stayed in existence to take on a much broader role. While UN member States hard not intended to prolong UNICEF’S life beyond the postwar emergency, they did include in its founding resolution the phrase “For child health purposes generally” and this was to offer the children’s fund a permanent niche in the large scale control and prevention of diseases affecting children.
          When the time came for the UN to close down I C E F in 1950, a successful lobby was mounted to save it. This time, it was the new nations of the developing world that spoke up. Again, the plea did not go unheard. But in 1953, the  General Assembly confirmed the children’s organization as a fixture in the UN system.
          UNICEF at this time dropped international and Emergency from it’s title- becoming the United National children’s fund (although retaining it’s acronym). However, its mission expanded as the post-colonial era presented it with a new challenge.
 MISSION OF THE UNICEF
UNICEF is mandated by the United Nations General Assembly to advocate protection of children’s rights, to help meet their basic needs and to expand opportunities to reach their full potential.
It is guided by the convention on the rights of the children and strive to establish children’s rights as enduring ethical principles and international standards of behaviour towards the children.
          It is insists that the survival, protection and development of children are universal imperatives that are integral to human progress.
          It mobilizes political will and material resources to help countries, particularly developing countries, ensure a first call for children and to build their capacity to form appropriate policies and deliver services for children and their families:
          It is committed to ensuring special protection for the most disadvantaged children-victims of war, diseases, extreme poverty, all forms of violence, exploitation and those with disabilities.
          It responds in emergencies to protect the rights of children. In co-operation with United Nations partners and humanitarian agencies, UNICEF makes unique facilities for rapid response available to its partners to relieve the suffering of children and those who provide their care.
 1.2    STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
          The problem of using a manual system in the child care information department of the UNICEF results in the inability of the staff to process documents at minutes time, and the difficulty in achieving on accurate results which may be deduced from improper postal delays, bad handwriting loss of vital paper or document, misplacement of vital information or cases, as a result of the services that are available or rendered when it is needed, duplications of effort due to inconsistency in activities and general validation failure during processing etc.
          Hence, the above-mentioned problems prompted for the Design and implementation of child care information system, to enable the organization to work more effectively.
 1.3    PURPOSE OF STUDY
          The purpose of this study is to design and implement a system that will eliminate the above-listed problems such as misplacement   of important reported cases, documents and records, duplication of efforts and a lot of time that is required or taken when searching and processing of cases and files.
          It is also created to expose the lapses of the existing system and to explore the intricacies associated with software design.
1.4    AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
          The aims and objectives of the study is to ascertain on how the organization, UNICEF, Operation aims and other activities are performed, and also to detect problems that pose obstacles with a view of modifying the operations and developing a new computerized system that will be more effective and accurate such as in the area of misplacement of vital documents, a computer will be used to record, store and retrieve large volume of documents, which will deduce the duplications of efforts due to inconsistency in activities and time taken in search of file when it is required for processing.
 1.5    SCOPE OF THE STUDY.
          Beside the information on childcare which is the major scope of the study, the research work would be limited to the area of health problems threatening the lives and affecting the development of the children.