PHASE 1 – ‘Emergency phase’
We find a child in the dead of night
sleeping somewhere in the streets of
Makeni and invite them to the centre daily.
At the centre they receive 2 or 3 meals a day,
medical care, clothing, counseling and the
opportunity to ‘just be a child’ by playing and using
some of the basic recreational facilities we have
established at the Centre.
If they are especially vulnerable (e.g. young, ill, not
sleeping somewhere safe or at especially high risk of
exploitation) emergency short-term foster care will be
found. As soon as they come to the centre, the process
of trying to understand their situation and where they
have come from begins – though this is a real ‘process’
as children take a while to settle down and trust our
workers enough to start telling them their stories
honestly. Usually in 2-4 months sufficient rapport has
been established for a child to have disclosed either
their parents’ identity and address or that of another
family member where they would like to be taken back
to.
Our team will then work to persuade the family to
accept the child and for them both to reconcile. This
will certainly involve head on tackling of the
circumstances that resulted in the child coming to the
street. Resistance is often great on either or both parties’
side. Reconciliation ‘is a process not an event’ – and is
necessary at community as well as family level.
> Phase 2 - educational
