The government is seeking to abolish privately owned children’s homes and orphanages within the next eight years.
Speaking on Sunday, October 1, Labour and Social Protection Cabinet Secretary Florence Bore stated that the government will only allow those under the Child Welfare Society of Kenya to operate.
While defending the new plan, CS Bore noted that some children’s homes have been used as leeways for child trafficking.
“The reason why we are closing them up is because we have been given directions under the Children’s Act that the private homes should be closed. They have also been routes for child trafficking, so the government wants us to retain the institutions that we have under the Child Welfare Society of Kenya,” Bore stated.
“In the next eight years, those private homes will not exist. We need to prepare in order to absorb those children that will come from private homes,” she added.
Data from the Social Protection Department showed that there are 45,000 -50,000 children living in about 855 private charitable children’s institutions and others living in government-run institutions as of November 2022.
Stakeholders involved in the sector are yet to respond to government plans.
However, some private children’s homes rescue children left on the streets while others volunteer to help struggling families.
Most of them depend on donor funds to operate and support the children’s education and other basic needs.
Their significance is immense, especially in urban areas including Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, and Eldoret.
