Child Welfare Society of Kenya (CWSK)

His Excellency, Honorable Uhuru Kenyatta, President of the Republic of Kenya, is the Society’s Patron. CWSK has a statutory responsibility to provide services to all marginalized children across all social sectors in line with Section 56 of the constitution. Its programmes are tailored to meet the affirmative action necessary for the children to access welfare services across the country.

These programmes include: Emergency preparedness, rapid response, and rescue of separated children; Advocacy; HIV/AIDS; Child adoption; Foster care for orphans and other vulnerable children; Child labour; Street children, Twelve places of safety (rescue shelters); Vocational skills training; Child rights and community empowerment; Early childhood education; Primary, secondary and university education sponsorship, and such other opportunities. The organization carries out its programmes throughout the 47 counties in the country. CWSK is also a member of the international Social Services, the global professional body of social workers, which has a membership of 150 countries.

Vision

 CWSK’s vision is to see all the children and young persons leading a happy fulfilling and fruitful life.

Mission

Exists to promote & secure the rights of children and young persons in order for them to realize their full potential.

Our Objectives

The Objectives of the Society are to:

• Protect and promote the best interests and welfare of children and young persons and enable them to overcome social problems through economic empowerment of individuals, families and communities;
• Support implementation of the provisions of child-rights protection instruments (1993 Hague Convention, 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989 African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the  Child);
• Assist the promotion of the family by reducing and mitigating the effects of disruption of relationships;
• Be an “approved society” exercising the statutory powers and duties within and for the purposes of the 2001 Children’s Act or any other legislation amending or replacing it;
• Promote, encourage, or assist any measures such as education,  skills-building, instruction, awareness and advocacy calculated to improve conditions of family life;
• Establish, facilitate and/or assist temporary places of safety for children in need of care and protection;
• Co-operate with government and organizations/persons with similar objectives to those of CWSK;
• Coordinate, collaborate and network with any other persons, governmental, non-governmental, and faith based organizations with special focus on identification, registration, tracing, as well as family and community reunification and reintegration of children in disaster, conflict and emergency situations and institutional care;
• Ensure protection, care and development of child-headed families;
• Promote foster care, guardianship and adoption as a last resort;
• Improve the standard of living of children and their families by mobilizing and managing resources from income generating activities, donations from individuals, international and civil society organizations, governments, the business sector, and others;
• Enter into arrangements with individuals, governments/authorities, public bodies, corporations, and companies that are conducive­ to the Society’s objectives in order to obtain any desirable rights, privileges and concessions;
• Advocate for and influence public understanding of children’s basic and human rights, and for Government budgetary allocations for children, especially for those in need of alternative family care.
• Mobilise resources by: Soliciting contributions towards the Society’s funds in the form of donations, subscription, or otherwise through personal or written appeals, public meetings, and other means; applying to any government/authority, public bodies, corporations, companies, financial institutions or persons for grants, monetary gifts, loans, property, subscriptions, other assistance to promote the objectives of the Society; and Establish an endowment fund to receive grants, donations, gifts and other assistance, and establish non-profit foundations in any country/countries to receive donations from private sources;
• Encourage community based reintegration of children;
• mainstream child rights approach in programming;
• Be a registering authority and adoption society as per the Children’s Act, or any other replacing it, and the administrative authority interpreting the Act for Charitable Children’s regulations;
• Purposely establish programmes prioritising families and communities to ensure every child stays in a community setting;
• Establish a trading company or similar entity for income generation for self-sustainability.

Core Values

• Children as the centre of all CWSK’s activities.
• The family environment as the unit in which children can grow up and develop with love and care
• Equity and justice for all children irrespective of their status
• Full integration of children into the mainstream national activities