Uganda: Government Plans to Close Orphanages

Bill Oketch - AllAfrica

According to this article from AllAfrica, Uganda's Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development "is engaging founders of orphanages countrywide with the aim of reviewing their operations," with a view to closing orphanages altogether. The Ministry has laready begun closing down illegal, or unregistered, orphanages throughout the country. The article includes an interview with Epaphrodite Nsabimana, the learning and research manager for Hope and Homes for Children, who argues that the root causes of children being placed into institutions in the first place need to be addressed. The article highlights some of the findings from research on institutionalization and its harmful impacts on children's wellbeing and development.