The end of 2022 has already arrived. It seems like this year passed particularly fast, somehow. There was certainly no chance of boredom this year. However, unlike the two previous years, it felt more like things were starting to move forward, rather than being held back and stuck in uncertainty.
For me, much of the first half of the year was taken up by a consultancy for UNICEF Kenya, to support them and the Kenyan government by providing guidance on how children with disabilities can be included in the National Care Reform Strategy for Kenyan Children that was adopted in 2021, and launched this summer. I really enjoyed the vibrant consultations with stakeholders at all levels and of different backgrounds. Culminating in a very productive two-day stakeholder workshop in Kenya, in February, which lay the foundation for the documents I developed subsequently.
I was also finally able to complete the book ‘Understanding the Trauma of Institutionalised Children. To support the child you adopt’, which I had been working on since 2019. It became available to the public at the end of September. And I have been overwhelmed by the interest it has received and the positive feedback that I got from people who have read it since then. You can find more information about that HERE.
No rest for the wicked, as that book was going through the design stage, I worked on its ‘twin’. Where the book that came out this year is written for adoptive parents who bring children from institutions into their lives through intercountry adoption, I have been converting the same basic content into a training manual for caseworkers. The training manual will help anyone working to move children from institutions to families (whether these are birth families, kinship families, foster families, adoptive families, kafeels, or guardians) to do well-informed assessments and to develop care plans, preparation, and training for children and families to ensure that the chance of a sustainable placement increases. The manuscript of the training manual has just been handed over to the graphic designer, so hopefully, that will become available in the next month or two.
Throughout the year, I have been active on various working groups and task forces of the Better Care Network Global Platform Transforming Care for Children. Including taking an active role in the development of several policy briefs that are put together by groups of international experts and major organisations. My involvement with Snehalaya has also continued, with weekly meetings to mentor the team responsible for moving children from the institution into family-based care and supported living. In August I made a short visit to India, to provide intensive training (until I was struck down by COVID) at Snehalaya and before that to discuss future plans for the work with U&I.
I have also been delighted to become a trustee of Tushinde, an organisation dedicated to preventing unnecessary separation of children from their families in Kenya, by providing family-strengthening services and crisis support. I’ve been asked to provide guidance on child safeguarding and child protection.
And at the moment, I am involved again with the Data & Analytics Section of UNICEF’s New York HQ, on a follow-up contract, to further develop and test the toolkit to assess the administrative data system for its ability to collect, analyse and disseminate data on children in alternative care and adoption/Kafallah, which I created for them a year ago.
I look forward to what 2023 will bring. I am contemplating how I can make sure that the contents of the Understanding Trauma books are accessible and spread as widely as possible, including considering developing a training programme on it. I hope that you are also feeling hopeful about the year to come. And who knows, we may end up working together or partnering in the near future.
I wish you a very happy New Year, with health, insight, progress, connections, and love.
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