About Zion Family Support
The Problem
In Uganda, the orphanage industry is booming, and Jinja is at the center of it all. In the 1990s, about 1,000 children were living in children’s homes. Today, that number is more than 50,000, and the majority of those children have families. Due to poverty or family breakdown, many caregivers see institutionalization as their only option.
However, children who grow up in institutionalized care have the odds stacked against them. They are 500 times more likely to die by suicide, and 10 times more likely to turn to survival sex work. Physically, these children are more likely to be under-developed, have hearing or vision problems, missed developmental milestones, poor health and preventable disabilities. Psychologically, children who grow up in institutionalized care show deficits in language skills, neural deficits and attachment disorders.
Many of these poor effects can be reversed by returning children to family-based care, where they are able to receive frequent and consistent one-on-one interaction.
Mission & Vision
Our vision is a Uganda where all families are flourishing together.
Our mission is to keep Ugandan families together by providing excellent and quality services.
Our Solution
Zion Family Support provides holistic support to families who feel the pressure to institutionalize their children.
Identified families that are at risk of separating are provided with immediate, interim support. The caregivers are then enrolled in a business training course, where they learn business planning, budgeting, financial management, inventory, preventing loss and maximizing profits.
Upon completing the course, caregivers receive a grant of start-up capital. This money is then used to start the business they planned through the business training course, and no repayment obligation means all profits are reinvested in the family and business.
Caregivers also have the opportunity to enroll in parenting classes. Many people are unaware of the detrimental effects that institutionalized care has on children. Through the parenting classes, caregivers learn about how they can best support their child’s development in ways that institutions cannot.
All families that receive support from Zion Family Support are regularly visited by trained social workers. Through these visits, we are able to track and monitor the family and children’s progress and provide advice and support as needed. These ongoing visit help the families to know they are not facing their struggles alone.