A technical assessment of the legal provisions and practices of guardianship, foster care and adoption of children in Kenya

This technical assessment report requested by the Department of Children’s Services (DCS) in the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Development in conjunction with UNICEF, uses a transformative social protection framework adapted for studying the provisions and practice in alternative care
and adoption. It has taken due cognizance of the Kenya Vision 2030 and its transformative agenda which under the social pillar is to build ‘a just and cohesive society with social equity in a clean and secure environment’ and by 2012 to increase opportunities for all disadvantaged groups and to achieve that through establishing ‘a consolidated social protection fund’ for cash transfers to Orphaned and Vulnerable Children (OVCs), the elderly and other persons facing vulnerabilities. The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Development responded to Vision 2030 by proposing that cash transfers be the core social protection intervention in Kenya.
The report found that there is a need to strengthen the structure and mechanisms that promote alternative care services (adoption foster care and guardinaship) in the country and that guardianship is the least understood and practiced among the alternative family based care arrangements in Kenya.