An example of deinstitutionalisation in Uganda

Deinstitutionalisation Orphans Vulnerable Children is a USAID funded project aiming at placing children from orphanages into families. My Father’s House is one of the children’s homes in eastern Uganda that has transformed from operating as an orphanage into a primary school. We are helping them to support children but at families. We got to know about the programme after attending the training, which was about the importance of growing up children in a family. The training completely changed our mindsets, whereby we realised that children were better off in families than in institutions. We’ve decided to continue providing education, care, and support to all the foster children, even after they have been reunified with their families.

Therefore, we will no longer be operating as an orphanage, but a school.

We needed to make sure that children are well-prepared and their families supported to give them good care. Once the children are reunited with their families, we shall continue to monitor and support their families to ensure that the children are happy. And I must say that, so far, the response is good.

I am happy with my Father’s House Orphanage for bringing my child back home so that he can spend more time with me and his siblings. He now knows his relatives, brothers and sisters and they keep supporting him. He now plays and shares a lot with them and teaches them new things, like the stories he learns at school. I thank you for bringing Milton home. Yet, you continue supporting his education needs. You still help him in many other ways, even when he is at home. I thank God for everything you have done for him. We work together on small house chores, he is a responsible boy. We are now one happy family.

We will continue to support and work with My Father’s House to make this a reality for all children in their care.