The government will move more than 5 million orphans and vulnerable children from charitable institutions and other harsh living areas to the comfort of families.
The measures announced in Kisumu by Labour and Social Protection Chief Administrative Officer Abdul Bahari will benefit more than 8 million children made vulnerable by poverty, harmful cultural practices, family breakdown and abandonment.
Natural disasters such as floods and conflict also lead to the vulnerability of children, according to Guidelines for Alternative Family Care of Children in Kenya, which seek to put children under the care of responsible people as a way of saving them from difficult situations and abuse.
Before the launch, more than 100 officers drawn from the police, national administration, churches and children’s department have been trained on how to implement the new plan. The move comes amid increased cases of defilement in various institutions, including schools.
Acting Director of Children’s Services at the Labour and Social Protection ministry Charles Ondogo said the new guidelines to be launched today would benefit at least 3 million children orphaned due to HIV and Aids. He said the ministry estimates that more than 350,000 children live with disabilities.
Ondogo said the ministry would also launch guidelines for the alternative family care of children in Kenya to discourage the current trend where orphans and vulnerable children are shunned and left to fend for themselves, with some opting to live in the streets. Lucky ones have been adopted by able families while others end up in children’s homes.
In Kenya, more than 16.5 million children are below the age of 14 years, according to the 2009 Population and Housing Census, many who are in urgent need of additional care and protection.
According to the new guidelines to be rolled out in Kisumu today, the Government seeks to start moving children from the streets and other uncomfortable environments to the hands of family kinship – under the care of extended family or community members. “We need to ensure that all children are in the hands of family environments,” Ondogo said.
“We recognise that with increasing socio-economic pressure and weakening family structures, the kinship care mechanism is under threat and many children are at risk of maltreatment,” he said.
According to the guidelines, children lack the love and individual attention they need for proper brain development when they are left to live outside of family set-ups. “The experience is particularly damaging for children less than three years of age,” say the guidelines.
The document says inappropriate care and protection of children in some institutional care settings can lead to violations of children’s rights, including physical and sexual abuse. “Family-based care is more cost-effective than institutional care,” say the guidelines.
Growing up in a family, the report says, helps a child to develop a sense of self esteem and belonging, family values and religious and cultural identity. This is attributable to the fact that families are more natural while most institutions are highly structured, controlled and operated on routine.
The guidelines target giving families directions on how to reduce unnecessary separation.
