Nakuru: The government is committed to ensuring a safe, systematic, and sustainable transition of children from institutional care to family- and community-based care under the government-led National Care Reform Strategy. Under the reform strategy, the government through the Directorate of Children Services has developed an action plan to end residential care of children in orphanages and childcare institutions to safely and systematically transition them to family and community-based care.
According to Kenya News Agency, Nakuru County Director of Children Services, Pilot Khaemba, explained that the transition of orphans and vulnerable children under the National Care Reform Strategy for Children in Kenya seeks to phase out all children’s homes in a 10-year plan that runs from 2022-2032. The strategy aims to strengthen family ties, promote community development, and reduce the burden on institutional care.
The strategy focuses on ensuring that all children live in safe and supportive family and community settings. It aims to prevent the separation of children from their families by addressing poverty and lack of access to basic services, and by strengthening family-based care options like kinship care, foster care, and adoption.
In Nakuru County, Khaemba stated that they were targeting more than 2,816 orphans and vulnerable children from over 81 Charitable Children Institutions (CCIs) to transition them from institutional care to family and community-based care. Board members of the CCIs in the county are being trained on how to embrace and implement the government’s directive on transitioning to child welfare programmes.
The government, with support from the UK-based Lumos foundation, is piloting the National Care Reform Strategy in Nakuru County, overseeing the removal of 60 orphaned and vulnerable children from six children’s homes and their transition to family and community-based care by the end of the year. Lumos foundation provides technical guidance, support, and training to facilitate this transition, with a focus on prevention of separation, family strengthening, and alternative care options.
The County Director made these remarks after witnessing the signing of a commitment to safe, systematic, and sustainable transitioning of children from institutional care to family and community-based care by board members of six children’s charitable institutions. To holistically and sustainably transition the 2,816 children, Khaemba disclosed that it required about Sh87,614,000.00. It will cost approximately Sh36,613,500.00 to carry out other care reform activities, according to the county roadmap.
Khaemba noted that the child-care transition is split into three phases: learning and decision-making, preparing the CCIs for the transition, and implementing the transition. This care reform strategy is spearheaded by the National Council for Children’s Services (NCCS) and is based on the belief that all children belong in a family. Scientific evidence suggests that children under institutional care suffer developmental setbacks compared to those raised in families.
Nakuru West Sub-County Children Officer, Ms. Irene Changwony, highlighted that the Care Reform Strategy is part of Kenya’s commitment to global standards for the care of children, such as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. She clarified that no CCI was targeted for closure; instead, residential care shall be transitioned to family care, with resources redirected systematically to support the child within the family or community setting.
Ms. Changwony emphasized that evidence shows children thrive with consistent, nurturing, and protective care from parents and caregivers. The strategy aligns with the Constitution, recognizing the family as a fundamental unit of society and bestowing childcare responsibility on the child’s biological family. UNICEF reports that institutionalized children face numerous challenges, including isolation and increased risk of violence. At least eight out of ten children in institutions have families, who with support, could care for them.
About 50 percent of the homes in Nakuru are concentrated in Gilgil and Naivasha sub-counties, while other CCIs are distributed across Nakuru-East, Rongai, Molo, Nakuru West, and Nakuru North. Subukia and Njoro Sub-Counties have one each, whereas Kuresoi North and Kuresoi South host none.
