Embu County has inched closer to having institutionalised children reunited with their families.
This follows the launch of the county and sub-county committees to steer the programme, which is expected to take ten years.
The county hopes to transition all children in children’s homes to family and community care as Embu County joins the national and global efforts to have all children raised in a family setup.
The push to have children grow up in communities is based on research findings that revealed that children released from children’s homes on reaching the age of 18 had difficulties reintegrating with society.
A senior technical advisor with children’s charity Lumos, Grace Mwangi, said children raised in institutions lack family love while growing up and do not receive guidance on the values they need to navigate through life in society.
Speaking when her organisation donated IT equipment to the new committees, Mwangi said the transition process will need close monitoring with a lot of data tracking and management.
Reginah Mohono from the National Council for Children Services said a lot of work is necessary to make families and communities ready to receive the children.
Mohono said those running children’s homes shouldn’t feel like they will lose their occupations since they will be helped to continue giving the same support they have been giving to the children while they are in their communities.
“There will be a lot of social work to ensure the children are settled in society, while the institution buildings will be repurposed to serve other uses in communities,” Mohono said.
Vimal Chadha from the Embu County Steering Committee said they adequately trained all those who will participate in the transition to ensure the conversion is orderly.
By Steve Gatheru
