The Ministry of Gender, Labour & Social Development (MoGLSD) in Uganda set up an Alternative Care Task Force in 2011 to investigate the state of childcare in Uganda and develop a national Alternative Care Framework. The Alternative Care Framework outlines a continuum of care for each child who is without direct parental care and the activities to be undertaken to ensure the Framework can be operationalised.
An Assessment Toolkit has been created to assist Probation and Social Welfare Officers (PSWO’s) to monitor and report on the childcare institutions in their Districts. The Assessment Toolkit is being used to ‘operationalise’ the Approved Home Regulations (2012), Children’s Act (2012) and also the Alternative Care Framework (2012). In conjunction with the development of the Alternative Care Framework and Assessment Toolkit, the MoGLSD has also commissioned a project to collect data on Child Care Institutions in Uganda and other Alternative Care Service Providers, and create a directory outlining the services and services providers. A pilot study has been completed and workshops held throughout the country to train district staff in the use of the Toolkit.
This document summarises the key findings of the project to-date and the current status of the child care and alternative care directory. It also outlines some key activities that need to be undertaken for the MoGLSD to start to address the issues outlined within the report. The MoGLSD has carefully evaluated the baseline study and after a number of consultations wish to put forward this document as a proposal to address the serious issues of children without parental care and the growing number of children’s homes.
