Evaluating Family Reintegration Initiatives for Abandoned Children in Jinja District. A Case of Children Under Welcome Home Ministries
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Date
2025-05-14
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Uganda Christian University
Abstract
This mixed-methods approach evaluates the family reunification programming of Welcome Home Ministries for abandoned children in Jinja District, Uganda. Guided by Attachment and Social Support Theories the study addresses three primary questions namely what type of reintegration interventions are being implemented; in what way they are meeting the socioeconomic, and psychological needs of children and families; and the degree to which they are successful in promoting child well-being and development. We collected data from 4 categories of respondents (44 caregivers, 44 reintegrated children, 22 staff, 22community members; n=132)
using structured questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, and review of program documents. A quantitative analysis (descriptive statistics, Chi-square analysis) found that 76 % of the participants received psychosocial counselling, 63 % formal education, 58% basic needs support, 51 % vocational/financial support. Equally positive associations were observed between the use of intervention programs and greater social connectivity (χ² = 15.32, p = 0.002), economic confidence (χ² = 10.55, p = 0.014), educational attainment (χ² = 18.20, p < 0.001), and global well-being (χ² = 22.45, p = 0.001). Key qualitative themes centered on the need for a combination of broad-based emotional, material and community connection interventions to facilitate the emotional recovery, physical health, and school attendance of children. However, close to a quarter of the respondents reported poor or fair outcomes alone, emphasizing challenges in long-term follow-up and awareness of counselling and economic issues. They are the objective to support a post-release period of two months, which includes not only the monitoring of the developing psychological profile and the responses of sociability of the re-integrated child, but also an assessment of the social processing context and a follow-up of the quality of life and the new belonging network, side by side with supporting in the community of the re-integrated child. These results offer empirically grounded direction for how
programs may be refined as well as for child welfare policy in low-resource settings more generally.
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