Child Welfare Society of Kenya has been in turmoil for the better part of the y at 2019, which as it comes to an end, may as well be the one of perdition and which while those embattled like Chief Executive Officer – Irene Mureithi and the board of trustees; would be oneto be remembered for many years to come.
The issues at play are no child’s play even though it is children welfare at the heart of everything. It all started way back at the turn of the millennium when activists and children welfare agitators raised their voice on malpractices in child adoptions. CWSK and it’s CEO Ms Mureithi have led the calls for government action to have in place stringent legal and policy mechanisms governing children adoption.
According to Mureithi and her backers, child adoption was being used by influential individuals, including politicians in collusion with Children’s Homes owners to traffic children in the name of adoption by foreigners. To remedy this, CWSK championed for a complete ban of Kenyan children by foreigners.
The effect of weak frameworks had left Kenya ranked among the nations that had failed to comply with the minimum standards for elimination of human trafficking, according a US Department Report on trafficking in persons of June 2014.
In the same year (2014), the Global Report on Trafficking of Persons had cited Kenya among countries that were in denial of the neglect in reporting or prosecution of cases of human trafficking.
Years of campaigns and lobbying finally bore fruit on 26 November 2014 the Cabinet banned foreign adoptions following a Cabinet Memo by then Labour and Social Welfare Secretary Kazungu Kambi.
In the memo, Kambi had proposed a 20-year renewable moratorium on inter-country adoption of Kenyan children by foreigners.
“Kenya is stated among countries that lack severe penalties to deter persons who target children for purposes of abduction, trafficking and sale or other forms of exploitation,” Kambi had noted in his Cabinet Memo.
Kambi, in announcing the moratorium vide a letter to CWSK CEO dated 10 December 2014, had hailed the efforts of the institution in championing for the elimination of “malpractices rampant in children adoption”, adding that although the campaign had borne fruit, more needed to be done to streamline the adoption sector.
He directed CWSK to set up a secretariat to implement the moratorium, challenging the organisation to take a lead role to ensure the government had in place the “legal and policy action to address prevailing child protection concerns”.
Ms Mureithi’s (as CEO of CWSK) persistency, commitment and relentlessnes in pursuing the interests of children were recognized and rewarded when she was appointed joint secretary and technical advisor to the expert committee for adoptions (under Gazette Notice No. 1092) to implement the ban on foreign adoptions.
Their specific mandate was to review and develop the legal and policy framework to regulate, supervise and oversee child adoptions in Kenya.
Ms Mureithi was charged with technical and administrative functions, with the duty to guide the committee on executing its mandate. CS Kambi made the appointment through a letter dated 20 February 2015.
The committee, in their report published at the end of 2018 made a raft of recommendations, among them prosecution of well-known individuals for their role in child trafficking and transformation of child adoption sector through having families adopt children as opposed to the current scenario where children are taken up by homes which then are used to traffic children.
That is how CWSK and its management became the target of the traffickers and children’s homes owners who are opposed to the implementation of the report and its recommendations.
Child Welfare Society of Kenya is a State Corporation for the care, protection; welfare and adoption of children vide Legal Notice No. 58 of 23/05/2014 and is the national adoption society for Kenya and the national emergency response, Welfare and Rescue Organization for children.
It was established in 1955 as an exempt society, with the 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.
President Uhuru Kenyatta is the patron of the society whose programmes include mergency preparedness, rapid response and rescue of separated children. They also promote advocacy on HIV/AIDS, child adoption, foster care for orphans and other vulnerable children, child labour and Street children.
Further, CWSK is in charge of the 12 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.
READ THE SECOND PART OF OUR SERIES ON THIS BY KEEPING TABS ON OUR WEBSITE FOR MORE. YOU WILL LEARN HOW THE TRAFFICKERS HAVE WAGED A VICIOUS WAR AGAINST CWSK MANAGEMENT AND BOARD OF TRUSTEES IN ADDITION TO FINDING OUT HOW THEY HAVE ATTEMPTED TO STOP CHILD TRAFFICKING CHARGES AGAINST BY INFLUENCING CERTAIN WELL-PLACED INDIVIDUALS AT THE OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS.
