How foster carers (Malayika Murinzi) are helping shape a better tomorrow for children in Rwanda

Since 2021, David has been living with his grandparents. As a baby, his father held his mother responsible for having a child with a disability and used to abuse her. David lived with his father until he was five years old. When his father died, David was admitted to a residential care home for children with disabilities at the age of five. David arrived traumatized, malnourished, and unable to walk. To get around, David was forced to crawl around on his tummy, leading to a bruised and sore stomach. In the residential care home, his caregiver built up David’s strength and encouraged him to develop his skills until he was able to walk. Sometimes, David still crawled.

According to David’s grandfather, at first David found it hard to adjust to village living. For example, he didn’t know how to use the toilets in the village as they were not the same as the ones in the care home. With the support of his grandparents, David is now thriving in the community, and following the intervention of the National Child Development Agency, he has a place at a local school in 2022. With the daily care and unwavering love of his grandparents, David is blossoming and discovering his own capacities, skills and thriving at school.

David’s grandfather shares:

“David has grown so much and become so strong. He had a problem with his back and that is why he couldn't stand or walk as he would crawl on the floor. He can now carry anything like any other human being. He has grown mentally and physically. There are things he didn’t know how to say, but he is now faring much better. He plays well with other children; friends come to visit, and he also gets along well with my other grandchildren.

Now he knows well what to feed the animals at home depending on which one he is feeding, for example, cattle, and pigs. He is becoming such a hardworking boy and it’s such an exciting thing. He has grown so strong that he wants to carry everything he comes across.”

These inspiring stories are now common in Rwanda. The hope of every child growing up and developing through being supported by loving and caring foster parents is high, thanks to the Tubarerere mu Muryango (TMM - Let's Raise Children in Families) programme, which started in 2013. As part of the programme, a child protection workforce was established and capacitated to support children and families in their homes. This is made up of both Child Protection and Welfare Officers (CPWOs), social workers embedded within all 30 districts of Rwanda, and community-based volunteers known as Inshuti z’Umuryango (friends of the family), colloquially referred to as IZU, with one male and one female in every village in Rwanda, in total 29,674 nationwide.

Since 2013, with the generous financial support of the United States Government, UNICEF has supported the Government of Rwanda to end residential care in the country. Starting in 2019, this support has included a special focus on returning children with disabilities in residential care back to their families or placing them in foster care. In David’s case, social workers from the NCDA explored a range of possible options, including contacting David’s mother. When that effort failed, they reached out to the wider extended family. Eventually, David’s maternal grandparents agreed to take David in.

There is also an extensive pool of trained foster parents in Rwanda who are ready to provide a loving, supportive home to children who are separated from their biological families, such as having been abandoned, or are orphans. These foster parents are called Malayika Mulinzi (Guardian Angels).

In another inspiring story, Nyirantibenda Verena and her husband are foster parents who have adopted two abandoned children. In this process, they worked closely with Celestin Nkundineza, a CPWO in Muhanga District. Celestin has supported family care since 2013 as a TMM Programme Officer. In 2019, these positions were transformed to CPWOs.

Celestin explained: “Before the Tubarerere Mu Muryango programme was implemented, an abandoned child was immediately taken to a nearby orphanage. But now that has changed. If the person who abandoned the child is not identified, the police issues proof of no family trace, and we place the child into a long-term foster family for adoption. We always have a database of trained foster parents ready to receive children. That’s how we save abandoned children from being institutionalized”.

Celestin worked with Nyirantibenda for almost one year before she was allowed to have a child as a foster parent. This process consists of, but is not limited to, the assessment of Nyirantibenda’s eligibility and that of her family. After some time on a waiting list, Nyirantibenda was officially given the first abandoned boy child whose mother was not identified during police investigation and tracing. A year later she applied for another abandoned girl child, which she began caring for in 2020. Nyirantibenda has now adopted the two children.

She receives regular ongoing support from the CPWO and IZU in caring for her adopted children, who are now thriving with her love, care and support.

Other foster parents are overcoming the stigma held by community members against children with disabilities in their fostering journey. In 2014, Kanakuze began fostering a two-week-old boy child called Irakoze. When he was around five months old, Kanakuze began to see that Irakoze was missing key developmental milestones. Within a few years, Irakoze was diagnosed with multiple overlapping disabilities. Kanakuze dedicated herself to providing love and support to her son.

Kanakuze began a long journey to seek medical attention for her child in different hospitals including Gatagara, Gahini and Rilima. These are among a few specialized hospitals in treating disability related issues in Rwanda.

According to Ntigurirwa Emmanuel, one of the IZUs operating in Cyiri Village, Kanakuze’s unfaltering courage and love for her son has changed the perception of many people and the way they treat children with disabilities in the local community. “Kanakuze’s case has changed the mindset of many of her neighbors. We even use the case as a teaching tool while addressing discrimination against children with disabilities in our Village” Said Ntigurirwa.

The Government of Rwanda approved the strategy for childcare reform in 2012, leading to the development of the TMM - Let's Raise Children in Families programme in 2013. Since then, over 3,000 children have been moved from institutional to family-based care, representing over 90% of children in institutional care in Rwanda. Implementation of the TMM programme by the Government of Rwanda with UNICEF support is made possible through the financial support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).