We’ve been developing exciting new plans for 2017 that will add even greater impact to our work with Ugandan slum children and their families. As we roll these out, we will work to safely place more of our most vulnerable children into foster homes; our children’s home will be re-shaped; and a new family support unit will expand our work with families.
Foster care
Foster care is family-based care for children whose own families are unable or unwilling to look after them. It provides a safe, secure and nurturing family environment. We are starting to establish relationships with suitable foster parents, who so far are all staff members. Presently, ten of the children that we were living in our children's home have been placed with five different foster families.
Respite and rehab home
Even with the ongoing development of our foster care programme, there will still be a need for premises to give short-term respite and rehab services, to help children and families in emergency situations. We therefore want to reshape our children’s home so that our focus is much more on respite and rehab rather than on long-term accommodation.
Family Support Unit
We intend to build bespoke premises near to the school that will house offices and meeting rooms for our staff to expand their work with families, while the first floor will become the children’s respite and rehab home, replacing our currently rented children’s home.
These new facilities will accommodate more rooms for counselling, training and community meetings, which will enable our IGA and welfare teams – now working collaboratively as the Children’s Development Unit – to roll out many of their highly successful programmes to the rest of the community. Potentially this will impact many more families in the Namatala slum to improve their health, education and living standards in line with the UN sustainable development goals.
So, that’s what we’re up to in Uganda's Namatala slum this year… thank you for your ongoing support, prayer and donations, making it all possible!
