Families urged to embrace child foster care parenting

Nyamira, Thursday, May 11, 2023,

KNA by Deborah Bochere

Nyamira South Sub County Children officer, Billy Adera have called on families in the county to embrace child foster care parenting to deinstitutionalize them and nurture them from a home-based environment.

Mr. Adera made the remarks while sensitizing education officers on the government's initiative of moving children from Charitable Children Institutions (CCIs) and taking them in a family-based environment.

He observed that the Abagusii Community have been practicing illegal ‘child adoption’ for several years in the past especially by families who have not been blessed to have a child or who have been blessed with girls only and want to have a baby boy.

He stated that this is criminal and instead advocated for foster care for families who do not have intentions of adopting a child for life because it is acceptable by law under the Children Act 2001.

"This legalized mode of child care is also open to philanthropic families who want to take care of children in need of care and protection and release them to go and start living independently once they become adults," he added.

"Because of family wrangles on property inheritance by adopted children when death of parents occurs, most couples avoid taking vulnerable children under their care for fear that they will be disinherited once they pass away. Parents with intentions of helping children in need of care and protection need not to fear because children under foster care will eventually leave the family that is taking care of them once they grow up and start their own life and make their own property,” the children officer said.

"Our county is implementing Changing the Way We Care Programme which reintegrates children from institutions and places them under home based care either by tracing their next of kin and taking them back there, or by adoption, or by foster care," Adera confirmed.

He elaborated that the initiative by the government was reached after studies indicated that children who are brought up in institutions fail to cope with tough life challenges after being released from institutions because their nature of upbringing is restrictive with little or hardly any experience on how to maneuver and survive in their new found environment.

Mr. Adera explained that long term outcomes of institutionalized children could be engaging in criminal activities, prostitution or they resort to committing suicide because they feel no one in their new world seems to understand them. 

"This is because as much as these children are being provided with the best basic needs like food, shelter, clothing and education, the staff in those institutions limit effective wholistic relationships, they don't have sufficient time to provide standard care and the children are at risk of maltreatment by staff or peers and denied access to kinship networks which have a major role to play in societies,” he further said.

The children' officer highlighted that government is emphasizing and implementing the programme of deinstitutionalizing children because home-based care gives these children sense of identity and belonging, there is individualized care, their self-esteem is strengthened, it is easy to pass on family values down to them further support lineage continuity and interactions at family level enables these children to readily blend with the larger community.

Ms. Macrina Otuge, programme manager at Investing in Children and their Societies (ICS) organization which is implementing changing the way we care programme in Nyamira said that they have made great strides in reintegrating children from institutions in Nyamira County and further continue supporting those families which have taken children so that they stabilize and comfortably take care of their new family member without much strain.

"We are encouraging families to embrace child foster care if they perceive adoption to have negative effects on such children when they will not be around to protect them. Our organization lobbies with funders who financially support these institutions to support families which have reintegrated children in their homes because the same funding was meant to support children placed in various institutions," she said.

Nyamira South Sub County Director of education, Faith Kiprono said that they are in support of the foster care because children readily become homeless whenever caregivers neglect them due to inability to provide for them following life pressing issues. Such innocent children can readily be taken care of safely under foster care and have an opportunity to access education and other basic rights with an opportunity of relating normally within a family and community setting.

Courtesy; K.N.A