An evaluation of the quality of care given at charitable children's institutions in Westlands district, Nairobi County, Kenya

Abstract

The study was to evaluate the quality of care given at charitable children's institutions in Westlands District, Nairobi County; Kenya. Since Kenya attained independence in 1963, cities and towns like Nairobi have seen a large influx of inhabitants due to rural -urban migration, resulting high crime rates, poverty, family disruptions, poor physical and mental health due to stress and under nutrition. The advent of mYl AIDS has compounded the problem with many children orphaned, while many others are born infected. There is also the problem of unwanted pregnancies such as teenage pregnancy.

This and other issues lead to a high rate of abandoned, neglected or abused children. Another repercussion of this type of migration is that the traditional African family safety net has been broken. Grandparents, aunts, cousins and others are separated by hundreds of kilometers. Neighbours in the cities tend to be strangers and do not have the same bond as persons from the same or neighboring villages. This means that should there be children who are victims of poverty or abandonment or whose parents are deceased, the state must step in to assist. It is with this in mind that I set out to explore the quality of care given to children in the charitable institutions. It would be important to analyze the type and quality of care given to these children and suggest ways in which it can be improved to better the lives of the children. Due to the limitations of the study, discussed in the core of chapter one, the study is delimited to Westlands Division, within Nairobi County.

The study had four specific objectives, including observe the quality of food given in charitable institutions; examine the existing extra curricular educational activities in the institutions; Staff: Child ratio impacts on services delivery in the targeted respondents from the institutions. The study concludes that children do not get sufficient basic needs in these charitable institutions, especaily food, clothing and psycho -social guidance. It also confirms that there are an increased number of destitute children especially boys due to cultural, property inheritance issues and customs. The homes should therefore be empowered to employ more and better trained experienced personnel in the children's institutions. Findings from studies like this are important because they enable the institutions to monitor and evaluate their performance and make improvements, inform state policy formulators, research and scholars and raise public awareness.