For a man who spent his better part of his childhood in an orphanage in Sierra Leone, it would be safe to assume that Emmanuel Mohamed Nabieu, fondly known as Nabs, would be a passionate advocate of orphanages.
But from his decade-long experience in a children’s care centre and now as Director of the same center where he grew up in, Nabs believes there is a better and more sustainable model of supporting vulnerable children.
While he acknowledges that the orphanage helped him escape a 10-year devastating civil war in the 1990s by providing the much-needed shelter, food and education, Nabs has advocated for Christians to shift their support away from orphanages and toward family-care support.
“The orphanage provides the tangible needs, the physical needs that you can see like food and clothes. But only the family can provide the intangible needs like love, identity and connection. Children do better when they grow up in a safe and loving family environment,” said Nabs in an interview with Christian Daily International.
After reconnecting with his family, Nabs sensed a disconnect. “I still struggle to get to know some members of the extended family - my uncles, aunties and their children. When I go to family meetings, I don’t know how to speak our native language, which is the only language a majority of the family members speak,” Nabs explained.
The provision and protection that Nabs found at the orphanage in his earlier years, while good and commendable, also shielded him and others from the realities of life. He felt that the orphanage didn’t adequately prepare him for the real world, a common thread for people who have lived their younger years in care centres.
“I still get a lot of calls from people we grew up in the orphanage who have struggled with life after the orphanage,” said Nabs.
Nabs separation experience at the orphanage was compounded when he later found out that his mother tried to visit him at the orphanage several times but was not allowed to see him. She eventually stopped trying because she didn't want him to be kicked out. Nabs postulates that most orphanages position themselves as the only hope for the children they take care of, many who are categorized as orphans yet in reality, they have family members who are willing or able to live with the children.
A study commissioned by the Faith to Action Initiative revealed that 5 to 8 million children worldwide are living in orphanages but an astonishing 80% of the children have at least one living parent. But unfortunately, many of these families are living in poverty and struggle to provide for their children resulting in the children being sent to orphanages.
“When I came back to the orphanage, we did our own survey and found out that 98% of the children at the time had living parent/s who could have taken care of the children if they were adequately supported,” said Nabs, confirming his suspicion and in line with global statistics.
This reality affirmed Nab’s approach of transitioning from orphanage-based care to family-based care and as an alternative solution for vulnerable children. He emphasized that the best way to support vulnerable children is by building the capacity of their own families and communities to care for them.
"It is possible that when you provide the right support and access to basic services in their community, many families are able to keep children in their care. That is why it is important for Christians to support family-based care. They can help to direct resources including funding, mission volunteering and government services to support vulnerable families," said Nabs.
Family-centered support
With this new approach, the Child Rescue Centre, where Nabs worked, transitioned to become the Child Reintegration Centre (CRC) with a focus on providing tailored support to families to help them become self-reliant.
This family-based care approach is taking root across Africa where many orphanages in Kenya, Nigeria, Liberia and other parts of the continent have transitioned to child reintegration centres by helping children trace their families, then empowering the families to support their children.
Nabs highlights the need for assessing each family's unique needs and providing appropriate support to help them become self-reliant.
This includes initiatives like offering vocational training to parents, providing small loans to start or scale family-run businesses, agriculture and livelihood training, and parenting and life skills education.
"Let's say they get $50 or$100, depending on the need, which they use to improve or establish a business. Then the social workers keep monitoring them while they do their business, in a year or two, they will be able to pay back the money then the same will be given to another family to do the same," said Nabs.
He gives a recent example where a single mother of four had approached an orphanage to surrender her children because she couldn't take care of them. However, the centre could not take all the four children which put her in a dilemma of separating her children.
"When she came to the CRC, we told her, 'No, we can't take your children, but we have something better.' We enrolled her in a microfinance, and she got a $100 loan. After some time, she did so well, her (school) uniform stitching business grew and now she has hired five more struggling ladies to work alongside her," said Nabs.
Nabs' call to Christians is a passionate plea to move beyond the traditional model of orphanage support and to embrace a more effective and biblically grounded approach that strengthens families and keeps children within their loving care, ultimately leading to better outcomes for both the child and the wider community.
