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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…
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: Over 66 per cent of children in sub-Saharan Africa remain affected by poor developmental outcomes, exacerbating early inequalities. UNICEF and WHO evolved the Care for Child Development package (CCD) as a community-based initiative to support caregivers to develop stronger relationships with young children and support nurturing care. The Baby Friendly Community Initiative (BFCI) is a global WHO strategy to promote optimal maternal, infant and young child nutrition at the community level. This paper provides insights into the feasibility and lessons learned from rural Kenya in…
Abstract
The large burden of mental health disorders among young people worldwide calls for scalable prevention and treatment models that reach children and families in low-resource settings. This paper describes the development of an evidence-informed family therapy intervention designed for lay counselor delivery in low-resource settings and presents findings on the feasibility and acceptability of implementation in Kenya. Qualitative data guided the development of a components-based family therapy that integrates multiple strategies from solution-focused and systems-based therapies, as…
This report from SOS Children’s Villages and the University of Bedfordshire provides reviews and assessments of the implementation of the Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children in 21 countries around the world. The report is aimed at enhancing knowledge around violence against children in alternative care (especially what makes children vulnerable and what puts them at risk) and providing policymakers and practitioners insight into the challenges of protecting children from violence as well as recommendations for change.
The report offers several key findings from an extensive…