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This case study documents the story of Mary, one of thousands of children in Kenya who were sent to family care suddenly without any preparation when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Mary's story highlights the need for family assistance to see a reunification through to successful reintegration.
This document has been produced as part of the regional learning platform on care in Eastern and Southern Africa. The platform and its corresponding documentation were planned and conceptualised by UNICEF Eastern and Southern African Regional Office (ESARO) and Changing the Way We CareSM (CTWWC).…
The transition of a residential care service involves significant change at all levels of an organization and affects many different stakeholders, including the children, their families, the staff, and the board and management of the organization. As with any significant change, transition can result in a range of emotional reactions amongst those most impacted, such as fear, uncertainty, and worry. Unless these emotions are acknowledged and addressed, it is common for stakeholders to resist change, regardless of its overall merits.
In this video, Anne Kinuthia, shares how social work…
When parents pass away, grandparents often assume the role of caregivers. Being thrust back into parenthood during a time of immense grief, and with a two-generation gap to bridge, introduces a range of challenges grandparents must overcome.
This video look at the learning of practitioners from Upendo Village in Kenya in supporting grandparents caring for grandchildren after their own children have passed away from HIV/AIDs.
Sister Florence and Bridget share some of the most common challenges these grandparents face and why peer support is so crucial to enabling grandparents…
Giving birth to a pre-term or low birth weight baby, or a child with a congenital condition, can be a challenging and traumatizing experience, particularly for women from marginalised or low socio-economic backgrounds. It can increase the challenges of caring for a newborn baby, erode a new mother’s confidence and, as such, affect attachment. It can also result in stigma, shame and rejection from extended family, and therefore increase the risk of child abandonment.
In this video, Grace Mwangi discusses the specific support needs of mothers of pre-term babies or those with a…
Abandonment of infants often takes place due to a range of stressors affecting vulnerable mothers, which collectively erode their confidence, result in feelings of isolation and make caring for a newborn overwhelming. Early detection and support that is strengths-based and focuses on social and emotional development, provided in supportive peer communities, is key to empowering women, building their confidence and subsequently reducing the rates of infant abandonment.
In this video, Grace Mwangi takes a critical look at the social work approach, and the impact different approaches can have…
Care leavers are one of the most important stakeholder groups in a care reform process, whose experience, expertise and insights should be at the centre of shaping the reform and advocacy agenda. Whilst the importance of engaging care leavers is recognised within the sector, in practice, methods of engagement vary. In many cases they fail to legitimately empower and enable meaningful engagement or are constrained to inviting care leavers to illuminate existing agendas through the sharing of personal experiences. In situations where care leavers are excluded from the sites of power where…
As a part of national care reform efforts, the Kenyan Government enacted new laws and policies aimed at reducing the country’s overreliance on institutional care for children. Whilst enacting new laws and policies of this nature is a critical component of care reforms, there can be huge challenges with implementation and compliance, particularly if there is an inadequate process of policy socialization and stakeholder engagement. This is heightened in countries where a significant proportion of institutions are privately run and funded and where the enforcement of regulation has been…
Comprised of videos and accompanying discussion guides, this video series features the learning from practitioners working across a range of care-related programs and practices in Kenya.
Videos in the series:
There are numerous factors that can result in a child being at risk of experiencing family separation. Issues can be complex, multifaceted and involve child protection, family functioning, service access and poverty related concerns. In many cases, the outcome for a child, in particular whether separation is successfully prevented or not, is as contingent upon the approach employed by social workers as it is the underlying factors at play.
In this video, Grace Mwangi, a Program Consultant with Lumos, shares key lessons from her experience working in community-based social work with…
ABSTRACT
In 2007, an estimated 145 million children between the ages of 0 and 17 years were orphaned, while in 2014, over 198 million children below the age of 18 years were orphaned in Africa, having lost one or both parents. The number of OVC who include street, forced laborers, sexually exploited children, and those with disabilities is immense and continues to increase drastically. The purpose of this study therefore was to investigate the extent to which government allocated financial resources, management procedures and stakeholders are major determinants of implementation of cash…