Since its inception, the Home has admitted over 848 children. We share the government's belief that the best place for a child to grow up is in a loving family and community. Therefore, we try to make the stay of a child at our home as short as possible. So far, we have managed to re-integrate almost all of our residents.
Our responsive approach is complemented by our prevention work, where we sensitize the communities in your catchment area about the topics of child safeguarding, children's rights, first-response interventions, and more. A special role in this is entrusted to our child protection volunteers.
Admission
The Home admits victims of sexual abuse who are at high risk of further abuse, who are unable to access emergency services, or whose continued stay in the community compromises the legal procedures of their cases. The Home has received admissions in the categories of defilement, incest, sex tourism, gang rape, sodomy, child prostitution, witnesses, child marriages, and pregnancies out of these situations.
The Home admitted its first case in November 2015. For the period November 2015 to December 2024, the rescue centre has admitted 848 cases of child sexual exploitation and abuse, 757 girls and 91 boys.
Reintegration
The Home offers shelter services on a temporary basis; this is usually communicated to the victim’s family at the point of rescue. We share in the government’s belief that children should grow up in a community. As such, all our efforts are geared towards reuniting the child with the community as soon as possible, provided all the risk factors have been addressed. The anticipated stay at the rescue centre is three months, although the stay can be as short as a day or prolonged up to six months, depending on the case. Every reintegration is discussed and decided upon by the case management committee, which consults widely with the child, the family, the Children's Department, the police, and the community to develop the best placement plan for the particular child. The Children’s Department remains the authorizing agent for every reintegration.
Following temporal safety measures and professional psychosocial support in line with the Care Reforms, the Home has managed to reintegrate 822 children, 734 girls and 88 boys, with their primary caregivers and into other safe spaces in the community as of December 2024.
Prevention measures
The Home undertakes community engagements to raise awareness about child protection issues and utilization of services provided in case of child abuse. People targeted are pupils, students, parents, teachers, chiefs, motorists (boda boda), religious leaders, chiefs, village elders, and child protection volunteers. Topics addressed are child safety, dealing with trauma, parental skills, and more. Targeted are members of the community who are in daily contact with children. Read more about this in our Community Outreach section. https://popefrancisrescue.org/index.php/community-outreach
Other activities taken as a preventative measures against child sexual abuse are also higlighted in our Programs and Services section in the menu. https://popefrancisrescue.org/index.php/programs-and-services