Give them a family

Africa's orphans will experience a richer, more wholesome childhood if they are raised within a family rather than in a childcare institution, according to a conference on family-based care for children in Nairobi.

According to the UN, there are more than 34 million orphans in sub-Saharan Africa today, 11 million of whom lost parents to the Aids pandemic.

Traditionally, orphans in Africa are raised by the extended family, and while many families continue to take in orphaned relatives, conventional family structures are buckling under the pressure of caring for additional children.

A 2006 study in Korogocho, a Nairobi slum, found that more than half the 436 people surveyed were caring for at least one child orphaned through HIV/Aids.

Too poor to cope, many families now reject these children, leading to a proliferation of institutional childcare facilities across the continent.

In Uganda, for example, government statistics show that the number of children in orphanages nearly doubled between 1998 and 2001.

“Plenty of studies show that raising children in institutions as opposed to families affects their cognitive, social, emotional and even intellectual development,” said Philista Onyango, regional director of the African Network for the Prevention and Protection against Child Abuse and Neglect.

According to the National Council for Children Services in Kenya, there are 417 charitable children’s institutions registered, while another 800 are estimated to be operating unregistered.

“Separation from the family is harmful to children; it doesn’t matter if I have grey hair on my head, my mother is still my mother, my family is still my family — children need that sense of belonging,” said George Nyakora, regional training director for the SOS Children’s Villages, which places children who cannot be connected to their biological families in family environments.

Participants also said the cost of supporting families to raise orphans was significantly lower than keeping a child in an orphanage.

A study from South Africa showed the cost of residential care can be as much as six times that of providing care to children living in poor families.

“All the money donors are pouring into institutions should instead be invested in enabling families to raise these children,” Onyango said.

However, steps - including legislation, screening of families, training of child welfare professionals and setting up monitoring and evaluation mechanisms — are necessary to ensure children are successfully placed with relatives.

“We tend to focus on the moral issue of homeless, orphaned children, but we need to look at the economics of it, and to create minimum standards that families must meet in order to care for children,” said Nyakora.

“As long as they have the financial capacity and social support to raise children, a family is the best place for a child,” Nyakora said.