Stakeholders in Narok County are formulating a strategy to ensure that all children who do not enjoy parental care are well protected.
Representatives of various institutions dealing with children met in a Narok hotel.
The meeting is organised by the Department of Children in collaboration with We World Kenya and presided over by Narok County Commissioner Kipkech Lotiatia.
Lotiatia said children without parental care are at a high risk of being exposed to danger and end up living a vulnerable life.
Among the dangers that such children usually face include lack of identity, sexual abuse, drug abuse, lack of inheritance, lack of parental guidance, lack of access to social amenities, child labour and child trafficking.
He called on the stakeholders to work as a team to protect all children in the county and ensure they achieve a desired future.
“We should all be concerned when we find a child in the street, doing casual labour or not in school during school days. Let us be responsible enough to ensure our children get a bright future,” he said.
Narok Director of Children Services Pilot Khaemba said the population of children without parental care was not well recorded, reiterating the need for the stakeholders to work together to ensure they get the statistics of such children.
He said the population of children in the county is 647, 524, representing 55.9 per cent of the total population, according to the 2019 census and underscored the need to protect this big population against any form of threats since they are the future of the country.
The director challenged the stakeholders to take personal responsibility when they find a missing child and ensure that the young one is rejoined with the family.
Khaemba called on Charitable Children Institutions (CCI) to follow the law when admitting children in their institutions, so that those children can be accounted for.
“A child should be put in children's homes as a matter of emergency and as a last resort. When placed there, the child should stay in the CCI temporarily awaiting to be integrated back into the family,” he said.
Khaemba said all children in CCIs should have a court order permitting the child to be in the institution.
Narok Principal Magistrate Phyllis Shinyanda raised concern over the increasing number of defilement cases in the county and called on the stakeholders to work as a team to avert the vice.
