Information Can Change the World

Published by GCA Tanzania - Written by Francis Mwakatenya

February 2024

Information is said to be a powerful tool that can transform lives, broaden perspectives, and create positive changes in the world.

When it came to placing children in foster families as part of her daily duties in her ward, Azza, a Social Welfare Officer in Dar es Salaam, hesitated because she was concerned about the financial standing of the families and the safety of the children in those families. 

Would these families have the extra resources needed to care for another child? Will the foster child be safe in a traditional home without security?

To Azza, security and safety meant things like security guards or fences surrounding a home, a proper shelter, enough food, and an expectation of a timeline of care. All of  these variables can be easily assessed  in orphanages. On the contrary, most of the families volunteering to foster children are not well off to provide every material need. Their houses are moderate and most of them don't have fences. Therefore, Azza had always placed children in orphanages because she thought it was safer than the families.

Finally, Azza came across information that changed her perception of caring for vulnerable children. 

“...It is love in a family, and a consistent caregiver, in addition to the material provision that children need to grow well….” Says Azza after having received training from GCA in collaboration with the Kinondoni Municipality in Dar es Salaam region on Legal Procedures in Alternative Care Case Management to Social Welfare Officers. 

“Thanks to GCA for supporting the three-day training, it changed my perception and decisions on determining children's safety.

Now I can prioritize families over orphanages;

Since the training, I have already placed 11 children in safe foster families and this is not the end….” says Azza.

GCA Tanzania has equipped 34 Social Welfare Officers from wards and hospitals in the municipality to make the right decisions to place children in safe foster families instead of orphanages to ensure children in need are in a safe, family environment.

Azza now has become one of the strongest ambassadors of family-based care. She places children in foster families. The families have gone through a thorough assessment and training to be able to receive children.  Through these families, Azza supports biological families by giving them a chance to strengthen their economy while their children are in foster families, so that reunification is a possibility.  

“There is a woman who was raising her child alone, but life went bad financially,  she could not meet the children’s basic needs.  I placed the child in the care of a foster family to allow her to stabilize and regain strength. After getting a job and being able to pay house rent  I reunified the child with her mother” said Azza. 

This child would have ended up in an orphanage if the Foster Families weren't readily available and the social welfare officer wasn't aware of the negative effects of institutional care. She said that she would just place them in any one of the orphanages, but now she can't.

Azza's thinking about the financial standing of the foster families before the training marked one of the reasons why vulnerable children have always been sent to orphanages. Parents’ poor living conditions deny them their right to raise their own children. This way of thinking leaves parents and the children with long-term mourning of loss in the name of opportunities in the orphanage. In fact, 8 in 10 children who are in orphanages have at least one living parent or relatives who could care for them if they were supported-according to many research findings. 

Azza appreciates community members who volunteer to provide care to vulnerable children.  She noted that reunifying a child from a foster family was easier than from orphanages as many of the orphanages would not let a child go easily. 

We provide knowledge to local governments, communities, children’s homes, and other stakeholders to create buy-in to support and utilize family-based care. Azza’s story proves it is working to change the trajectory for children in Dar es Salaam so that every child has the opportunity to grow up in a safe family.