Whether you are a home director in Kenya, worried about how your children’s home will transition to family support, a leader in a non-profit organization seeking greater knowledge to help children in need, or a religious leader wishing to fulfill the call of God to care for the fatherless, the Christian Alliance for Orphans (CAFO) Summit has workshops and opportunities to help you fulfill your goals.
Jaime Zogmaister and Cameron Outlaw from our team at A Child’s Hope Foundation attended the 2024 CAFO Summit held in Nashville, Tennessee. The sessions they attended focused on transitioning to family care (especially relevant in Kenya) and collaboration with other organizations.
Transition to family care is a hot topic for child care worldwide. But many people don’t understand what that really means. In many countries worldwide, but especially in ones that may have higher rates of poverty, many children end up on the streets. They were abandoned, runaways, or lost. Charitable people and organizations created shelters and children’s homes to care for these children and provide food, education, and hope. However, according to the Archibald Project, “Over time, the world came to believe that… children’s homes were the best way, or maybe the only way, to care for vulnerable children (Archibald Project, 2022).”
Families that struggled to take care of their children saw children’s homes as a permanent solution to give their children better lives than they could. But often there are no simple solutions, only trade offs. With children’s homes as a solution, children are not raised in families, leading to not only costs that are 5-10x greater, but can produce negative impacts on children’s development, social relationships, and ability to lead quality lives in the future (Faith to Action Initiative).
Now, the goal for many homes and organizations is to help kids get into loving families, but the assistance of orphanages and children’s homes is still important. And while there will always be a percentage of children that can’t be placed into families, the vast majority of children’s homes can help children get into families with some work. The topic of “transitioning” children’s homes means changing the focus of the home. Instead of treating a children’s home like a permanent solution and home for raising children, homes will instead provide temporary care or other solutions to support family based care. Some homes have found they best serve their children by becoming daycares, vocational training centers, community educational support, etc. However, this transition for children’s homes is not easy. It involves many moving parts and pieces that fit together to provide care for children. The conference sessions both Jaime and Cam attended gave insight into how to think through and facilitate the transition for children’s homes and how to utilize partnerships to work through things together.
Jaime’s session immersed participants in a simulation, focusing heavily on a case study for a transitioning home. This simulation addressed six areas of transition and helped the 40 participants visualize and plan in a “how might we” approach while keeping the focus on the children.
The areas discussed were: Engagement, Case Management, Family Assessment and Support, Asset Transition, Measurement, and Fundraising as they analyzed a case study. Session directors helped foster more conversation by asking critical questions and finding solutions for the case study children’s home.
The CAFO Global Network hosted another session on developing relationships and delved into two core themes: foster care initiatives and working with religious institutions.
The purpose of this collaborative session was to allow global advocates to share and collaborate on strategies, understand foundational building blocks of best practices and the latest research, gather working groups to collaborate on CAFO Global Network projects, and continue developing attendees’ leadership skills to better serve their emerging/growing networks (CAFO, 2024).
The 2024 CAFO Summit was a transformative experience for all the NGO leaders, foster families, and care agencies focused on helping orphans and vulnerable children. With over 300 workshops and opportunities to connect, our team is excited to move forward in this work.
One particular conversation with individuals working in Kenya inspired our team. They listened to the urgent needs and the potential for collaboration with our partners (Child in Family Focus – Kenya, Shelter Yetu, and Kickstart Kids International). A Child’s Hope Foundation has committed to these three future plans:
If you are involved in the work to elevate care for orphans and vulnerable children, we need your valuable insights. Register to join The Collective, and connect with other NGOs, government leaders, and people wanting to make a difference today.