Why Kenya plans to do away with children's homes, orphanages

There are still an estimated 40,000 children in 830 children’s homes across Kenya

In Summary

• Placement of the child is normally arranged through the government or a social service agency.

• As a result, Kenyans are focusing on is putting children in children homes, as it appears to be the preferred option

All children deserve and have the right to grow up in loving and secure families.

Unfortunately, many children in Kenya continue to live in Charitable Children’s Institutions commonly known as orphanages or children’s homes.

Despite an existing law (Children’s Act 2001) to promote foster care in Kenya, this care option has not been practised in the country on the large scale, mostly due to lack of awareness among Kenyans.

Foster Care is a system in which a minor has been placed into a ward, group home, or private home of a state-certified caregiver, referred to as a "foster parent" or with a family member approved by the state.

Placement of the child is normally arranged through the government or a social service agency.

As a result, Kenyans are focusing on is putting kids in children homes, as it appears to be the preferred option.

There are still an estimated 40,000 children in 830 children’s homes across Kenya. Most are privately run.

Institutionalizing children runs counter to Kenya’s traditional approach to children being cared for by extended families or friends in their own communities.

ALTERNATIVE CARE OPTIONS

In a renewed effort to ensure alternative care options are embraced the government in collaboration with partners has embarked on an awareness campaign to ensure children are brought up in a family environment.

The number of children growing up in institutional care in Kenya is too high and worrying. Institutional care has proved over the time to have many adverse effects on children, including removing them from familiar environments and depriving them of parental care and affection.

Directorate of Children’s Services, Jane Munuhe.

Alternative Family Care and Child Protection Manager at The Tree of Life Kenya Boniface Buluma says a discussion on alternative care started at the UN level when data and insights showed the impact of children’s homes on their development.

As a result in 2010, the UN developed guidelines for the alternative care of children.

“When you are talking of alternative care of children, here we are talking of options like kinship care where children are being taken care of by their relatives in the absence of their biological parents,” Bulima says.

“But also we recognise the fact that some families are so dysfunctional even at the extended level so that is why foster care is being recommended whereby you have individuals who decide to put themselves available to take care of a child even they are not related to this child.”

Impact on children

Research conducted over the years has shown that children who grow up in childrens’ homes are experiencing a lot of challenges, not only when they are in the children’s homes but also once they are left with the effects lingering on into their adulthood.

Children go through psychological issues as they are affected in terms of their development.

“Socially, they are not able to develop appropriately because when there is a children’s home they are considered almost like numbers because we don’t have a children’s home for one child or for five children,” Bulima says.

The registration of children’s homes in the country allows for a maximum of 20 children.

As a result, you will find a large number of children being taken care of by either one caregiver or two who interchange hence the lack of individualized care.

Foster care process

The Kenyan law stipulates that for one to be a foster parent, you should be a Kenyan residing in the country, be aged above 25 years of age and less than 65 years.

Non-Kenyans who wish to be foster parents can also do so but after residing in the country for at least 12 months.

Those who wish to foster a child are supposed to visit the sub county children’s offices where they will be given an application form to fill.

Once that is done, the officer will do an assessment of the individual as well as the assessment of the family to ascertain the child will be taken good care of.

Where need be, training will be conducted after which the child will be placed under foster care and a certificate issued by the sub-county children’s officer.

The certificate is to last 12 months after which a monitoring review is conducted through visits to see how the child is doing.

“When a review is done after 12 months and it is seen that it is still necessary for the child to continue living in this family then the certificate is renewed, according to law the certificate can be renewed a maximum of two times so the child will live in a foster arrangement for a period of three years,” he says.

“It is expected that when the child is within this foster family some interventions should be done at his biological family level, if the parents are there we try to understand what made this child move out of the family set up so that we help the family to resolve it.”

“If it is the extended family we try to identify a relative that can stay with this child simply because we want to preserve the identity of this child we want to ensure this child continues to live within a family set up.”

Children under foster care can only be allowed to leave the country through a court order under special needs such as the need to seek medical attention.

This is aimed at curbing the problem of child trafficking.

According to Jane Munuhe from the Directorate of Children’s Services - Alternative Family Care section, the government has agreed to shift away from institutional care and towards reforming the care system, embracing a family-based care system for children.

In 2020, the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection (MoLSP), led by the National Council for Children Services (NCCS), and implemented through the Directorate of Children’s Services, embarked on the process of developing a National Care Reform Strategy that will guide the country in implementing a Care Reform Agenda.

POLICY CHANGE

The government is currently in the process of changing its policy on child care for vulnerable children and those without parental care from institutionalised care (which includes orphanages) to family-based care.

“The National Child Care Strategy 2021-2031 seeks to promote the shift in practice from an over-reliance on institutionalized care of children without parental care, or at risk of separation, to a practice that promotes more family-based and community-based care for such children,” Munuhe says.

Foster care is perceived as a viable alternative in the care for and protection of vulnerable children particularly for those whose family situation is deemed as dysfunctional as to present a reasonable risk to their wellbeing.

Edited by D Tarus

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