Six hundred and thirty-two families at risk of separation in Nyamira County, have been empowered on parenting skills courtesy of ‘Investing in Children and their Society (ICS) organisation.
ICS organisation programme manager, Macrina Otuge, told KNA during an interview that the organisation is implementing the ‘Changing the Way We Care (CTWWC)’ programme in Nyamira County, initiated to ensure that children in need of care and protection grow in caring and nurturing safe family setting.
“We introduced retooling of parenting skills component in our programme to enable couples and families at risk of separation rethink of their decision because many- a-times, it is the innocent children who suffer and miss out the rightful opportunity of growing in safe and nurturing homes because their parents are no longer in good terms,” the programme officer explained.
“This component of parental training is key in strengthening families and couples to be able to take care of their children in a proper manner and has contributed a big way in achieving our long term objective of bringing about care reforms on vulnerable children in the county.
In our training component we train parents on their roles and responsibilities in the family, cordial family relationship, mental health and self-care, proper and effective communication to spouse and children, family and cultural values and discipline, economic empowerment programmes, being the right ambassadors of child protection initiatives amongst others.
Ms Otuge confirmed to KNA that the programme has been very successful and they are seeing positive changes in those families which are at risk of separation and children are happier and emotionally attached.
Nyamira South Sub-county Children Officer, Billy Adera, confirmed that through the collaboration of ICS partners who are funded by Catholic Relief Services (CRS) they have managed to successfully reintegrate 101 children from Charitable Children Institutions (CCIs) in the county and they are doing well.
“Graduating these families which have gone through an eight-week training on parenting skills, will enable them to take care of those children and grandchildren they are taking care of in a better way showing them love and giving all the psychosocial support they require to grow up into responsible and focused adults.
CTWWC is a programme initiated by the government in 2019 to remove children CCIs and reintegrate them into homes to enable them grow up in a family setting so that they are able to cope with life when they are adults and handle life responsibly on their own.
By Deborah Bochere
