Shelter Yetu works to rescue and rehabilitate children living on the streets in Kenya. Their mission is centred on finding sustainable, family care solutions that allow these children to leave the streets behind and return to a safe, loving home environment, where possible.
The Challenge: The primary problem they tackle is the extreme vulnerability of children separated from their families. The organisation faces the complex task of ensuring that once a child is rescued, the transition back to family life is not only safe but permanent, preventing a cycle of return to the streets.
The SFAC Intervention: Since the partnership began in 2024, SFAC has applied its core mission of helping children be safe, belong, and thrive through a series of targeted interventions. Drawing on our expertise in training, consultancy, and system reviews, we provided the following support:
- Case Management Review: A comprehensive organisational review completed in 2024 to identify areas of strength, where improvements could be made and to make recommendations for future practice to ensure children receive safe, individualised care.
- Specialised Training: Our consultant, Joseph, delivered in-person training on care planning. Care planning is the process organisations use to replicate the role of a safe, caring parent and provide individualised care. This is particularly important in children’s home where children are often all treated the same – same routines, same food etc. Several team members also completed the Protective Behaviours (PBs) Foundation Course in 2025.
- Ongoing Mentorship: Continued online consultations to refine the way the organisation assesses and decides whether it’s safe for a child to go home and assist them in implementing the care planning training.
Current Impact: Following these interventions, Shelter Yetu has seen a significant transformation in its operations. They have successfully restructured their team to ensure a higher ratio of caregivers to children and implemented a case decision-making panel, which has revolutionised how they assess a child’s future. By utilising SFAC’s “5 Pillars of Good Child Care and Protection Practice Model (aka the “Know the Model”) and our risk and protective factor analysis, the organisation is now making safer, more evidence based decisions—identifying exactly which children can return home and pinpointing the specialist support their families need to ensure a successful reunification.
This has meant more children are returning safely to their families with support plans in place. The changes have also identified that some children cannot currently return home safely. Where possible, work continues with families to make reunification a safe option. Possibilities for alternative family care for children are also being explored.
Future Work: The partnership continues as we look toward upcoming case consultations on social work and therapeutic practice, as well as specialised training in the establishment of Foster Care programmes.