The Child Welfare Department of Bringing Hope to the Family exists to ensure the wellbeing of the OVC, their Care-givers, and the OVC Households generally.
The Child Welfare department is equally tasked with the obligation of ensuring that the OVC are mentored and prepared to become future responsible and self –sustaining Adults by equipping them with the relevant cognitive skills that would be essential for a better living after they have graduated into Adults.
It is also through the Child Welfare Department that Community Development Programs such as the OVC Households Livelihood Programs, Community Socio-Empowerment programs, Child Protection Advocacy training, and Basic Psycho-Social Support trainings to the Care-givers and selected responsible Community members are effected.
LIVELIHOOD SUPPORT TO THE OVC HOUSEHOLDS
Bringing Hope to the Family among other components that it delivers to its clients is Socio-Economic support. About the Socio-Economic Support Program, the Organization through the Child Welfare Department identifies the most critically Vulnerable OVC Households in the Communities, and extends Income Generating Activities in the form of Poultry (Chicken), Piggery, Heifers, and Goats so that the Incomes of those vulnerable Households are boosted, and through the sales of those Income Generating Activities’ products, the Household’s basic Needs can be met.
An assessment is conducted first by the Field Staff from the Child Welfare Department, a Questionnaire is administered so as to ascertain and prioritize those Households that are critically Vulnerable.
Currently, the Child Welfare Department has 1885 OVC, and 722 OVC Households registered with the Organization. Out of the above numbers of Households, 215 have been provided with the Socio-Economic Support Program, and indeed the lives of these Households’ members have been changed. The Children (OVC) in these Household are equally supported by the Organization in the areas of Formal Education through provision of basic schools’ requirements, and through payment of school fees for the case of OVC in Secondary, and Tertiary Institutions, Socio-Economic Empowerment through Food Security and post-harvest handling trainings, Nutrition issues through Food and Nutrition trainings, Basic Nutrition support through regular Counseling of the OVC, and through PSS trainings to the OVC Care-givers, Church Leaders, and communities’ opinion Leaders, the Water Sanitation, and Hygiene Component, and Child Protection issues through Community trainings and referrals, and Monitoring and Evaluation of the OVC progress both in the communities through the Home Visits, and in the Schools through the Schools’ Visits. The Child Welfare Department is also tasked with monitoring the progress of the Development initiatives extended to the OVC Households in the Communities.