Kenya. Elektrovent’s “eyes of hope”: an Italian company for the future of abandoned children.
The training of the Shelter orphanage’s health and social care staff is the focus of the project’s second year, alongside supporting care leavers as they move towards independence.
The "Eyes of Hope" (*Occhi di speranza*) project, carried out by Ai.Bi. and Elektrovent HERE, aims to improve living conditions for children in Kenya who are alone, abandoned, or facing family difficulties and are housed at the Shelter Children's Home orphanage. It also seeks to promote pathways for leaving the institution and finding placement within a family—whether their birth family or an adoptive one.
Specifically, the project spans three years. The first phase, concluded in 2020, enabled the renovation and upgrading of the orphanage’s kitchen and dining hall.
Kenya: Training and "care leavers" at the heart of the project's second year
During the second year—currently underway—the project focuses on improving the training and skills of the orphanage's health and social care staff. Particular emphasis is placed on the techniques and procedures for the legal intake of children and the management of the de-institutionalization and family reintegration process. Indeed, children often remain in the institution for too many years without a plan for their care or family reunification.
Two main objectives were set for the first six months of work:
- To foster a better understanding of the procedural and bureaucratic steps involved in handling a minor's case from the moment they arrive at the orphanage.
- To trace the minors' birth families in order to assess the real possibilities for family reintegration, provided the family receives material and social support.
To launch a psychological support service for the children currently in care and for young people who have left the orphanage.
A key activity in this second year is the establishment of a psychological support service. This service caters not only to the minors currently in care but also to young people who have already left the Shelter—the so-called "care leavers." These are young adults who, upon coming of age, find themselves facing life outside the institution alone and without family support.
The psychological support service serves not only as a space for listening and support but also—for adolescents preparing to leave and young people who have already left the orphanage—as a space for sharing, enabling them to pursue a path toward independence with the assistance of a social intermediary.
Training and integration of a social liaison to support young people leaving care (care leavers) on their path to independence.
To support care leavers as they leave the orphanage and embark on their journey toward independence, a specialized training program was implemented to prepare and introduce a social liaison into the Shelter orphanage’s multidisciplinary team. Thanks to this new role, adolescents leaving care are finally guided through a vocational integration process designed to ensure they achieve full personal and professional independence after leaving the orphanage.
Implementation of a monitoring system for family reintegration support services.
Amici dei Bambini’s commitment to children living in orphanages focuses on maintaining ties with their birth families—wherever possible—and upholding their right to be children through family-based care arrangements.
The family remains the primary source of care and protection for every child. Consequently, orphanage staff must direct all their efforts toward finding long-term solutions that prioritize the child's growth within a family unit and uphold their right to be a child.
How?
Efforts are directed toward family reunification, care by close relatives or the extended family, temporary foster care, and adoption, all in compliance with the Kenyan guidelines on Alternative Family Care for Children endorsed by the UN General Assembly in 2009.
Staff at the Shelter orphanage are therefore tasked with driving a process of de-institutionalization and family reintegration for the children, a process involving various stakeholders: the children themselves, parents, social workers, and local authorities. To achieve this, it is essential that they receive adequate training and acquire the skills and tools needed to identify the child's background and subsequently facilitate and plan for family reunification or identify other family-based care solutions. Equally crucial is the subsequent monitoring of reintegrations to prevent a recurrence of the family situations that led to the child’s initial removal.
To this end, in early 2021, the Shelter orphanage launched a monitoring initiative for its family reintegration support services, and staff were trained to implement all procedures necessary for successful family reunification.
Like Elektrovent, many companies support Ai.Bi., making it possible over the years to carry out numerous projects dedicated to children who have been abandoned or are facing family difficulties, both in Italy and around the world.
If your company is interested in supporting our association’s activities, find out how HERE. Alternatively, contact us at 02988221 or via email at aziende@aibi.it.
