We have 24 babies currently under our care in our home and support 15 children in foster care and 9 reunited biological families in family-based care.
Amukura Staff, Sr. Judy and Sr. Sylvia, with Celine
Our goal is to help these children still in our home and others be safe and loving families through kinship care, family reunification, foster care, and adoption.
We're raising funds to help us transition our Babies Home, feed and care for the children currently within our home, improve our facility, and resettle children within our care into safe and loving families.
If children are in families, we can impact more children by providing child-centered, family-focused care.
We don't want our support to end for a child after they've resettled into their homes and families.
In fact, our assessments indicate that there is often a great need in supporting the transition for both the child and families immediately after resettlement for the best possible success.
Children and staff with the Kwangamor Secondary School students working together in threshing maize
Amukura children drying the threshed maize corn outside
Amukura Orphanage staff harvesting millet
Services we currently provide to children and families:
Amukura is Supporting:
24 children in our home
15 children in Foster care
9 children in reunited families
Bishop Mark Kadima speaks about Amukura
This is a beautiful speech from Bishop Mark Kadima sharing his personal experience when visiting our Babies Home. He asks the faithful Christians to be responsible.
Bp. Mark Kadima's Speech
Family receiving items for family strengthening from Amukura Orphanage
Adoptive mother to sweet Martha
Mark is leaving Amukura Orphanage after being adopted into a loving family
What is Family-based care?
Family-based care focuses on providing the love, nurture, and security that allows a child to thrive through reunification with biological parents, kinship care, foster care, or adoption.
We are currently fundraising so that we are able to continue provided care for babies and young children living in the home, while also transitioning to a more family-based care model.
Also, a vital part of supporting family care is strengthening families to prevent unnecessary separation. To this end, we're raising funds to do the following:
Our Program
To ensure the sustainability of family-based care, we are doing the following:
Changing the way we care to a family-based approach
Children should be families and kinship care, not orphanages.
Research affirms that the best environment for children is within a loving, secure family.
At Amukura Orphanage Home, we seek the best interest of each child, which is finding a permanent family setting as soon as possible.
That's why we're committed to strengthening families, and we are now shifting towards a family-based care model.
Children have the best chance to thrive when they grow up in a family. That's why we're committed to strengthening families, and we are now shifting towards a family-based care model.
Our Work
and why it matters.
Our program's transition emphasizes sustainable family-based care more than institutionalization while advocating for children's best interests
Happy Amukura children
Our Programs
With the general running of our Babies Home, these are the programs we are focusing on to one day be able to impact more babies and children by supporting them in loving families.
Transitioning our model while improving and running our home
We're raising funds to help us transition our Babies Home, feed and care for the children currently within our home, improve our facility, and resettle children within our care into safe and loving families. If children are in families, we can impact more children by providing child-centered, family-focused care.
We don't want our support to end for a child after they've resettled into families; In fact, our assessments indicate that there is often a great need in supporting the transition for both the child and families immediately after resettlement for the best possible success. Our dream is to eventually extend our support to families in our community experiencing poverty, family issues, and lack of services.
Once we've updated our facilities and resettled children into families, our program seeks to engage through family assistance and community events; equip families through financial empowerment, baby/child and youth development education, and spiritual growth. In addition, we want to elevate families through family coaching, counseling, and spiritual enrichment.
For the last two years, admission of children to the orphanage has reduced dramatically so that a month ends without admitting a child. We can see the difference we are making in the community is working. Our goal is to make the need for traditional orphanages obsolete by embracing family-based and community-based care in our community.
Once we've fully transitioned, we will be able to provide job training, parenting classes, crisis support, and therapy to meet the basic needs of families who live nearby.
Continuum of Care
Family-based care and Kinship care
Amukura Orphanage Home is raising funds to help with family-based care services. In most cases, kinship care – where extended families take care of babies or children whose parents have died or abandoned them. We're also, raising funds to facilitate foster care and adoptions for children into loving families.
We want to provide these family members with financial support, food, health care, and parenting coaching from our staff.
To prevent unnecessary family separation, we're also creating community awareness of alternative childcare methods and child protection, specifically on positive parenting, children’s rights and responsibilities, penal code, alternative family care, child abuse, and challenges of adolescents.
Family Strengthening
We know that children have the best chance to thrive when they grow up in a family. That's why we're committed to strengthening families and helping keep them together.
While our home is raising funding for the running costs of our home so that we can meet the essential needs of the children in our care right now, we are also raising funds to provide support and empowerment to the already resettled families.
It's our goal to provide families with spiritual development and skills training that build a strong foundation for empowerment and self-sufficiency. For the children who haven't yet resettled, we are raising funds to provide them and their families a resettlement package when the reunification does happen.
We provide education, healthcare, spiritual development, and skills training build a strong foundation for empowerment and self-sufficiency. Furthermore, we plan to help parents and caregivers gain skills that can help sustain their families for the long-term, including:
- Necessities, such as food and healthcare as needed
- Parenting coaching and life skills training
- Family support counseling via trained therapists and social workers
- Economic planning, caregiver workshops, and job skill development so that they earn income from trade skills
- Ongoing case management, with follow-ups to monitor progress after reunification, making referrals when necessary