New project seeks to keep children in families instead of care homes

Kenya recorded 222,267 child protection cases in the 2025/2026 financial year, with parental neglect accounting for more than 70 per cent of the reported cases, exposing persistent gaps in family support and child protection services.

At the same time, about 40,000 children are living in 902 charitable children’s institutions across the country. More than 70 per cent of them can be traced to their families, raising questions about the circumstances that lead children into institutional care and whether more could be supported safely within family settings.

“Annually, in the past one year, we have received 222,267 cases in the year 2025-2026; those are child protection cases that require intervention,” said Carren Achieng Ageng’o, Principal Secretary in the State Department for Children Services.

She said more than 70 per cent of the cases involved parental neglect, while poverty, orphanhood and abandonment were among the reasons children become separated from their families.

The scale of the challenge comes against the backdrop of limited progress in implementing the National Care Reform Strategy 2022–2032, which seeks to move children away from unnecessary institutionalisation towards safe family-based care.

“However little progress has been made,” Carren said, acknowledging the gap between the government’s policy commitments and their implementation.

To address some of these challenges, the government has launched the ChildSAFE Kenya Project, a one-year initiative supported by the United States Government and implemented by Catholic Relief Services (CRS), in partnership with government agencies, faith-based organisations and civil society groups.

The project will focus on six counties: Kisumu, Kakamega, Nairobi, Kajiado, Kilifi and Mombasa. It is part of a wider initiative being implemented in nine countries: Kenya, Cameroon, Malawi, Cambodia, Lesotho, Uganda, Guatemala, El Salvador and Colombia.

Kenya was selected because of its existing partnership with the United States, government commitment to child protection reforms and policies that provide a foundation for the programme. It is also among the participating countries implementing all three of the initiative’s priority areas: strengthening child protection systems, supporting early childhood development and preventing unnecessary family separation.

Heidi O’Bra, Public Health Advisor at the US Embassy in Nairobi, said the support was intended to strengthen local institutions and services beyond the project’s one-year implementation period.

“Our goal is not simply to support activities over the course of the next year. It’s to help strengthen the capacity of Kenyan institutions and communities to continue delivering for children and families well beyond the life of this project,” she said.

The US Government has committed 3.8 million US dollars towards the CRS-led ChildSAFE activities in Kenya, with a further 1 million US dollars supporting UNICEF’s child protection and safe learning work.

Margaret Kahiga, Country Manager said the project would work with government structures rather than establish parallel systems. It expects to reach approximately 6,000 caregivers through parenting support and community-based learning, while strengthening the role of churches, mosques and other local networks in identifying and responding to children’s needs.

“If we can really be able to strengthen the families, because once you strengthen the families, you prevent a lot of things,” Kahiga said.

Among the planned interventions are strengthening the Child Protection Information Management System, improving referrals and community reporting, and enhancing the Child Helpline 116. The PS acknowledged that the helpline still has weaknesses, saying some calls terminate before they are received.

The project will also support positive parenting, train caregivers, strengthen early childhood development services and help identify and support foster parents. More than 30 charitable children’s institutions and rescue centres are expected to be engaged, alongside efforts to reintegrate children with their families where it is safe and appropriate.

The need for stronger prevention is also reflected in historical data. The 2019 Violence Against Children Survey found that 50 per cent of children had experienced some form of violence before turning 18, while 15 per cent of adolescent girls had been exposed to teenage pregnancy. PS Carren said the government was seeking resources to conduct an updated survey.

Although the project will initially concentrate on six counties, the government hopes to use the lessons to inform wider implementation across the country.

Its longer-term test will be whether stronger reporting and referral systems, better-supported caregivers and improved family-based care can translate into fewer children experiencing neglect, abuse and unnecessary separation and whether those improvements can be sustained after the project ends.