Veronica lost her father when she was four and her mother when she was seven. Since then she has not been in a stable family situation.
Veronica was referred to us last year, aged 11 and attending primary school. She was living with John, her maternal grandfather and his second wife. The wife has a street stall selling vegetables and John works as a casual labourer.
When her parents first died Veronica lived with her paternal grandmother but John saw she was being used as a farm worker and denied school, so he decided to rescue her.
However, his wife has been physically and verbally abusive towards the child. Veronica had been running away from home and skipping school.
Interventions provided:
Weekly cash transfer of Ksh500 (about £3.50)
Food parcels in the initial stabilisation phase
School fees
Counselling sessions for Veronica to process past trauma and build her resilience
Building the relationship between the child and the grandmother
Holiday camp during the school holiday
Family enrolled on NHIF
Support of the step-grandmother’s business
Family tracing by the Tushinde team (no suitable kinship carers identified)
Despite all the interventions, and a clear improvement in Veronica’s school attendance and behaviour, her step-grandmother was still abusing her. It had culminated in a physical attack that was witnessed by others one evening.
At this stage Tushinde involved the District Children’s Officer (DCO). Through partnership with a local organisation Veronica was placed in an emergency refuge for girls for two nights. At the same time, a foster care family was identified through the Community Health Volunteer. Veronica was placed with the family. The parents had already been vetted and had some basic training. They had two younger children and Veronica settled in quite quickly. This was two months ago and regular follow up by the social worker and counsellor has found that Veronica is happy in her new home. The plan is to do further family tracing of Veronica’s maternal aunts and if this is not successful to look into long term foster care which will need court involvement and a detailed care plan.