Interim Care Centre

At our Interim Care Centre, we carry out intensive non-formal education, rehabilitation and family reintegration work while providing a nurturing, protective and structured environment. AfCiC social workers work with family and child over a six-month programme on the more complex issues that cause the child to run to the streets, as well as providing support for the child making the transition back  home, to their community and school.

The programme is based on  four years of experience working directly with street children and their families in Thika District, Kenya. In June 2004, AfCiC, in partnership with local authorities and other stakeholders, undertook a census of local street children in Thika. 150 street children, from an estimated population of 400, were interviewed giving an insight into the profile and culture of children on the streets of Thika, the problems they faced and the kinds of solutions that might have led to their social reintegration. As a result of the insights gained from this study, in addition to experience working with street children, an Interim Care Centre pilot programme was established in June 2005, with initial funding from an International Matching UK Rotary Grant.

The holistic approach, combining both curative and preventative measures, and targeting not simply the street child in isolation but the entire family, has proved a cost-effective, sustainable and very successful model in reuniting children with their families and the community, and enabling them to succeed in mainstream schools, performing well against their peers.