The Child Protection Department provides national leadership in preventing and responding to all forms of violence, exploitation, neglect, and abuse affecting children in Kenya. It works in collaboration with national and county stakeholders to strengthen child protection systems and ensure the safety, dignity, and wellbeing of all children.

Core Functions:

• Coordinate prevention and response to sexual abuse and exploitation of children.
• Lead national efforts to eliminate harmful practices, including child marriage, female genital mutilation, and other social or cultural violations affecting children.
• Oversee the design and implementation of interventions to address child pregnancies.
• Coordinate national action on child labour and other forms of child exploitation.
• Provide leadership in the prevention, tracing, and management of missing and found children.
• Guide the implementation and monitoring of national child protection policies, frameworks, and action plans.
• Coordinate community mobilisation and public awareness on child protection.
• Oversee the implementation of the Adolescent Programme in line with child wellbeing priorities.
• Develop and coordinate support for children of imprisoned parents.
• Promote and oversee access to childcare services,
• Ensure inclusion and targeted support for children with disabilities and special needs.
• Promote prevention and response to Violence against children.

Key Achievements

The Child Protection Department has made notable progress in strengthening systems to prevent and respond to violence, abuse, and exploitation affecting children in Kenya. Key milestones include:

• Completion of the Violence Against Children (VAC) Survey 2019, which provided critical data on prevalence, drivers, and risk factors of violence against children
• Development and dissemination of the National Prevention and Response Plan (NPRP) 2019–2023, to guide national and county-level action to end violence against children
• Development and launch of national guidelines for the management of missing and found children (2024), currently being piloted in selected counties
• Finalization of draft guidelines for children of imprisoned parents
• Rollout of the national “Spot It, Stop It” campaign to raise awareness and promote action on violence against children
• Annual coordination of International Missing Children’s Day (IMCD) commemorations since 2019, raising visibility of long-term missing cases and strengthening multi-agency response
• Completion of the National Capacity Assessment on the Status of Missing Children in Kenya, which informed the development of national guidelines and systems strengthening
• National mobilisation of stakeholders and children to review and endorse Kenya’s commitments on ending violence against children, presented by the Principal Secretary at the Global Ministerial Conference in Bogotá (2024)
• Ongoing development of strategic frameworks and programmes to eliminate harmful practices on children