📞 National Child Helpline 116

A toll-free, child-friendly communication and response service established by the State Department for Children Services to provide children and the public with a safe, accessible, and confidential platform for reporting child protection concerns, seeking assistance, and accessing referral services.

Target Group

• Children in need of care, protection, or psychosocial support.
• Children experiencing abuse, neglect, violence, exploitation, trafficking, child labour, or harmful practices.
• Missing, lost, abandoned, or separated children.
• Parents, guardians, caregivers, teachers, health workers, and community members.
• Government agencies and service providers requiring child protection referrals.

Services Provided

• Receipt and management of child protection reports and complaints.
• Emergency response coordination and crisis intervention.
• Child-friendly counselling and psychosocial support.
• Information and guidance on child rights and available services.
• Referral of cases to appropriate government and non-government service providers.
• Case documentation, tracking, and follow-up.

📢 Missing and Found Children Services

This service supports the reporting, tracing, verification, protection, recovery, reunification, placement, reintegration, aftercare, and follow-up of missing and found children.

How to Access the Service

• Police Station/Post: For immediate official reporting, OB number, search, and investigation.
• Sub-County Children's Office: For child protection assessment, family tracing, and reunification.
• Child Helpline 116: For reporting, counselling, and referral.
• Emergency Numbers: 999 or 112 for urgent assistance.
• Local Administration: Chief, Assistant Chief, or Nyumba Kumi.

What to Share When Reporting

• Child’s full name, nickname, age, and recent clear photograph.
• Time, date, and place the child was last seen or found.
• Clothes, physical description, and any medical conditions or disabilities.
• Places the child visits frequently and contacts used.
• Police OB number (where available).

🔍 Family Tracing and Reunification

A child protection process focused on restoring children who have been separated from their families back to a safe and caring family environment.

Guiding Principles & Process

• Best Interests of the Child: Every decision promotes safety, dignity, and long-term stability.
• Preparation: Involves counselling, case conferencing, and developing a reintegration plan prioritizing the child’s safety, emotional well-being, and education.
• Follow-up: Continued support is provided after reunification to strengthen family relationships and address any emerging challenges.

🚨 Child Rescue & Placement to Places of Safety

A critical child protection service involving the identification, rescue, removal, and temporary placement of children who are abandoned, neglected, abused, exploited, trafficked, lost, homeless, or living in circumstances posing an immediate threat to their survival or development.

Key Objectives

• Protect children from abuse, neglect, exploitation, violence, and trafficking through timely intervention.
• Provide safe temporary care, protection, and shelter for children in need of care and protection.
• Address immediate needs, including healthcare, psychosocial support, and legal protection.
• Conduct comprehensive assessments and case management for long-term care arrangements.
• Facilitate family tracing, reunification, and reintegration where it is in the child's best interests.
• Provide suitable alternative care for children who cannot safely return to their families.

Expected Outcomes

🤝 Child Protection Mediation Services

This service supports the resolution of child-related disputes through guided dialogue, prioritizing the best interests of the child.

Matters Handled Through Mediation

How to Access & What to Share

Access: Via Children’s Offices, Courts, Schools, Health Facilities, or National Child Helpline 116.

What to Share: Child’s name, age, location, parties involved, the issue affecting the child, and any relevant documents (court orders, birth certificates). No child shall be denied urgent support because documents are missing.

📋 Case Assessment & Planning Service

A core child protection service ensuring every child receives appropriate care, protection, and support based on their individual needs. It involves a comprehensive assessment of a child's situation to identify risks, vulnerabilities, strengths, and available support systems.

Case Planning Process

Following the assessment, an individualized case plan is developed outlining specific actions, services, and support required to promote the child's safety, well-being, and long-term stability. The plan clearly defines goals, sub-goals, proposed actions, timelines, Officer’s Comments, and referral pathways to ensure coordinated service delivery.

Areas Assessed During a Home Visit

Expected Outcomes

• Improved access to individualized care tailored to the unique needs of each child.
• Enhanced identification and effective response to risks and vulnerabilities.
• Strengthened child safety, protection, and safeguarding outcomes.
• Increased evidence-based decision-making in child protection interventions.
• Successful family reunification, reintegration, and long-term stability.

Access: Via Children’s Offices, Courts, Schools, Health Facilities, or National Child Helpline 116.

🏥 Rehabilitation Services

Transforming Lives through Education, Rehabilitation and Reintegration

How Children are Admitted

Children are admitted through a court process. The Children's Court considers social inquiry reports and recommendations from Children Officers, taking into account the child's individual circumstances, needs, family environment, and best interests.

Rehabilitation Pillars

Expected Outcomes

• Improved positive behavior, character development, and responsible decision-making.
• Enhanced emotional well-being, mental health, and psychosocial resilience.
• Acquisition of vocational and life skills for self-reliance and future employability.
• Successful reintegration into families, schools, and communities.
• Reduced recidivism and reoffending among children in conflict with the law.

🤗 Child Protection Aftercare Services

Aftercare supports children after a child protection intervention, placement, rehabilitation, reunification, or reintegration to ensure they remain safe, supported, and connected to necessary services.

Who Receives Aftercare Support?

• Children returning to family/community care after rescue, rehabilitation, or institutional care.
• Children leaving rescue centres, rehabilitation centres, CCIs, remand homes, or borstal institutions.
• Children affected by violence, abuse, trafficking, substance abuse, street situations, or emergencies.
• Children in contact or conflict with the law undergoing reintegration.
• Children affected by parental imprisonment, detention, or loss of care.
• Families and caregivers supporting a child after an intervention.

Key Areas of Aftercare Support

🏠 Alternative Care Services

Alternative care services provide safe, family-based, or community-based care for children who cannot be cared for by their biological parents. All placements prioritize the best interests of the child.

1. Adoption Services

The formal legal process of permanently placing a child with non-biological parents.

2. Foster Care Services

A temporary family-based alternative care arrangement providing short-term protection while working toward reunification or permanent placement.

3. Guardianship Services

A legal mechanism where an adult (non-biological parent) is appointed to assume parental responsibility for a child's person, estate, or both.

• Scope: Can be Testamentary (by Will) or Court-Appointed.
• Duration: Naturally expires when the child turns 18 (can be extended in exceptional cases like severe disability).
• Restrictions: Guardians cannot remove the child from Kenya without explicit court permission.

4. Kafaalah Services (Islamic Alternative Care)

Voluntary alternative childcare under Islamic law where a Kafiil provides care without altering the child’s original kinship relations or inheritance rights.

• Eligibility: Must profess the Islamic faith, be a Kenyan citizen, and meet age/capacity requirements.
• Principles: Non-severance of biological relationships, best interests of the child, and cultural subsidiarity.
• Benefits: Child grows in a family setting, enjoys education/healthcare, and can be gifted property or benefit from a Wasiyah (Will).

5. Supported Independent Living (SIL)

A transitional, semi-supervised care arrangement for older youth (typically 16-22 years) transitioning out of institutional care or unable to reintegrate with family.

✈️ Foreign Travel Clearance for Unaccompanied Children

This service safeguards children travelling outside Kenya without their parents or legal guardians by verifying parental consent, confirming travel arrangements, and preventing child trafficking, abduction, and exploitation.

Eligibility Criteria

• The applicant must be a child below 18 years.
• The child must be travelling outside Kenya.
• The child must not be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian.
• Written consent must be provided by the parent(s) or legal guardian(s).
• The travel arrangements and destination must be clearly established.
• The accompanying adult (where applicable) must be identified and vetted.
• The travel must be demonstrated to be in the best interests of the child.

Application Process

1. Parent, guardian, or authorized representative submits an application to the nearest Sub-County Children's Office.
2. Required supporting documents are submitted.
3. Children's Officer conducts document verification and assessment.
4. Interviews may be conducted with the child, parent, guardian, accompanying adult, or sponsor where necessary.
5. Child protection screening is undertaken to check for trafficking or exploitation risks.
6. Recommendation and approval by authorized officers.
7. Foreign Travel Clearance Certificate is issued to present to immigration authorities.

Required Documentation

💰 Social Protection: Cash Transfers (CT-OVC)

The Cash Transfer for Orphans and Vulnerable Children (CT-OVC) Programme provides regular financial assistance to extremely poor households caring for OVC, enhancing access to basic needs, education, and healthcare.

Complementary Programmes

⚠️ Counter Trafficking in Persons (CTiP) Service

This service exists to prevent, suppress, and combat trafficking in persons in Kenya, protect and assist victims, and coordinate national anti-trafficking efforts in accordance with the Counter Trafficking in Persons Act, 2010.

Service Components

Access & Referral Process

1. Victim identified by law enforcement, Children Officers, immigration, or stakeholders.
2. Referred to relevant support service provider or government agency.
3. Assessment of the victim's needs is conducted.
4. Appropriate assistance provided (shelter, medical, psychosocial, legal, return, resettlement).
5. Long-term rehabilitation and reintegration support provided where necessary.
6. Referral to the National Assistance Trust Fund for eligible support.

Required Documentation

• Identification documents (where available).
• Referral letter from a government, law enforcement, or accredited partner agency.
• Case assessment report, medical reports, court documents, or police reports.

Expected Outcomes

• Reduced incidence of trafficking in persons and enhanced prosecution of offenders.
• Improved protection, assistance, and successful rehabilitation/reintegration of victims.
• Increased public awareness of trafficking risks and prevention measures.
• Improved coordination among government and non-government actors.
• Strengthened national capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to trafficking.