Meru County launched a situational analysis report on institutional care for children, since the Government launched the National Care Reform Strategy (NCRS) for Children in June 2022.
It also comes against the backdrop of the enactment of the Children Act 2022 that came into force on July 20, 2022.
Speaking during the launch in Meru town, Ms. Mary Thiong’o who represented the National Council for Children Services boss Abdinoor Mohammed said the report was a prerequisite of the National care reform strategy document, guiding both state and non-state actors in the transformation of children care services.
“We are moving away from over-reliance on institutional care to prioritizing family and community care services.”
“This is in line with our culture where traditionally children belonged to families and communities. It is also in line with the legislative and policy framework that is showing the importance of children to grow in a loving, nurturing family and community environment,” said Ms Thiong’o.
She said that they have undertaken the analysis in Meru to inform the implementation of the Kenya National Care Reform Strategy for children.
She added: “We are now able to understand the number of Charitable Childrens’ Institutions (CCI) in the county, the category of children in those institutions, the number of those who have families and those who don’t. This is going to help us while we are planning and designing services to support the transition.”
She said the report will also help while they are transitioning the institution from the residential care services to community-based services where they will no longer be registering residential institutions but the child welfare programmes that will support children with the resources that are available or within their families and community so that they may realize the vision of the NCRS.
The strategy, she added, is aimed at ensuring that all children and young people live happily, safely and sustainably within families and community-based care by 2032.
“Other counties that have gone ahead of Meru and have undertaken a situational analysis include Kisumu, Kilifi, Nyamira, Murang’a and Kiambu and others are still coming up because we are rolling out the care reforms to all the 47 counties in the country,” said Ms Thiong’o.
The County Children Services Coordinator Ms Olive Kamau expressed her excitement for the milestone adding that the move has motivated them together with implementing partners and other stakeholders.
She said they will put extra effort into working towards integrating children back to the communities and their families.
“We will be carrying out intensive sensitization at the community level on realization that children are coming from poor families in the community and we want to start engaging Nyumba Kumi initiative because we have not reached them yet as well as families at the local level to emphasize on the need to take care of their children,” said Ms Kamau.
With our implementing partners, she added, we will sit down after this and see how some of these families can be strengthened to take care of their children instead of having them leave their homes.
She said they will also emphasize on the need to place children with foster parents.
“We have already trained foster parents and any child who is likely to be separated from the family, instead of going to institutions, we place them with foster care parents and work with biological parents for a possible reunion,” said Ms. Kamau.
She said research has shown that there is more harm done to children when in institutions than community-based care despite being provided with all basic necessities since the psychological person in that child is not comfortable.
“This is the reason we need to ensure that children grow within their families and community and despite people talking of poverty pushing them to institutions, we are saying this should not be the case,” said Ms Kamau.
She however said the transition will not render CCIs irrelevant since there will still be children’s issues and these will act as rescue centers which will hold the children for a few days before issues at the community are solved and reintegration takes place.
Njuri Ncheke Council of elders Secretary General Josphat Murangiri said they were in full support of the government’s program as it will help children experience various facets of life once they grow in their families or communities.
By Dickson Mwiti
