Kenya’s National Treasury is planning a Sh2 billion ($15 million) Child Welfare Fund to help minors transition from institutional care into family-based environments. The fund, expected to be included in the 2026–27 national budget, aims to support children living in orphanages and children’s homes by reuniting them with relatives, placing them in foster families, or assisting older youth with independent living arrangements. This initiative is part of Kenya’s broader effort to reform its child welfare system and gradually reduce reliance on institutional care, where more than 44,000 children currently reside.
Research has increasingly shown that institutional care can hinder emotional and social development, and many children in orphanages are not true orphans but have living parents facing challenges such as poverty or disability. The Child Welfare Fund is designed to address these underlying issues by financing family-strengthening programs, counselling, tracing relatives, reintegration into communities, foster care systems, and support for teenagers transitioning into adulthood. The goal is to ensure children grow up in stable family environments whenever possible.
Kenya’s approach aligns with a global movement advocating for “deinstitutionalization,” emphasizing that children generally thrive best in family settings. Studies, including the Bucharest Early Intervention Project, have linked long-term institutional care to developmental delays, attachment disorders, and mental health challenges. Many countries are replacing orphanages with foster care, kinship arrangements, and community-based support programs. Kenya’s National Care Reform Strategy plans to transition children out of residential institutions by 2032 while strengthening systems that support families.
Faith-based organizations, including churches, have historically supported orphanages but are increasingly shifting toward family-based care. Initiatives by the Faith to Action Initiative and the Better Care Network encourage churches to focus on family preservation, foster care, and community support, leveraging mentorship, financial assistance, and local programs to prevent children from entering institutional care. Many churches in Kenya already provide food, school fees, and counselling to families in crisis.
Successfully moving children into family environments will require strong oversight, trained social workers, and adequate funding for foster care and family support services. Kenya’s proposed Child Welfare Fund is intended to address these needs and ensure that the transition away from institutional care results in safer, more stable homes for the country’s most vulnerable children.
