An amazing reintegration

 
 
 
 

We brought him back HOME


 

to accept younger children. Most of these children have parents who are asked to pay a fee for placing their children in the centre.

When we connected with them, they were ready to take a new step in how they care for children with disabilities: bringing them back into families, where they belong.

They identified six children who they believed could sustainably live at home. We conducted house visits for four of those children, and in three of these cases, we believed that reintegration with their parents had a good chance of success. We started with a seven-year-old child with minor mental and physical disabilities.

In February 2022, he was placed in Mehayo Centre—not because his parents couldn’t or didn’t want to care for him, or because they didn’t love him. They do, and that’s why they wanted him to have access to education as well. However, in their village, there was no special needs class. They approached the village leader, who saw no other option than to place him at Mehayo. After living with his parents for seven years, he was suddenly separated from them and placed in a centre where he knew no one. At the centre, there was no therapy, such as physiotherapy or speech therapy—only a place to stay, sleep, and eat. The only advantage was that a public school with a special needs class was situated close to the centre.

We solved the educational problem, and on June 3, 2022, we brought him back home.

Growing up in a family is not only a child's right according to the Convention on the Rights of the Child; it is also in the child's best interest to grow up in a safe and loving family rather than in an institution,

including children with special needs.

 
 

Below you see footage of some of the steps needed to reintegrate children back into families. At the end of this page you can watch the vide we made about the reintegration of one of the children.

The management of the institution identified 6 children of whom they thought could go home. This boy, from the reintegration video below, was one of them.

 

Our chairman trained the staff on the proces, law and guidelines and together they made a plan.

 

The staff of the institutions was informed about why the change in approach and about the reintegration process.

 

Of course one of the first steps was to make a house call and talk to the parents.

 

And we visited the school with the special need class, the one closer to home, if they we willing to accept the boy in their school.