Today, the St. Philomena Babies Home cares for 28 babies and young children, coming from many different districts of Uganda and ranging in ages from 0-6.
Children celebrating birthdays at St. Philomena
Our goal is to help these children in our care and others in safe and loving families through kinship, family reunification, and community-based care.
We're currently moving to follow the children's policy under the ministry of Gender and Labour and Social Development and changing our model of care from institution-based care to family-based care.
In family-based care, we can provide love and care to even more children than we can within our orphanage while making a lasting impact on the community and empowering families.
Currently, we support:
St. Philomena children reuiniting with their family thanks to donors support.
One of the children from St. Philomena happy to be reuiniting with his family.
What is Family-based care?
The focus of Family-based care is providing the love, nurture, and security that allows a child to thrive through reunification with biological parents, kinship care, foster care, or adoption.
Also, a vital part of supporting family care is strengthening families to prevent unnecessary separation.
Our Program
To ensure the sustainability of family-based care, we are doing the following:
Changing the way we care to a family-based approach
Children should be families and kinship care, not orphanages.
Research affirms that the best environment for children is within a loving, secure family.
At St. Philomena Babies Home, we seek the best interest of each child, which is finding a permanent family setting as soon as possible.
That's why we're committed to strengthening families, and we are now shifting towards a family-based care model.
Children have the best chance to thrive when they grow up in a family. That's why we're committed to strengthening families, and we are now shifting towards a family-based care model.
Our work
and why it matters.
Our program's transition emphasizes sustainable family-based care more than institutionalization while advocating for children's best interests
Children and staff at St. Philomena Babies Home pose for a photo
Our Programs
To be a voice for vulnerable babies and young children, our programs center around changing the reality for abandoned and orphaned children at many different levels.
Transitioning our care model
Right now, our limited funds only allow us to care for children in our home, along with family-retracing to locate a child's family. Therefore, transitioning our care model costs more initially since we still provide shelter, essential needs, and tracing of relatives for all children in our home.
We're raising funds to help us transition our children's home to provide a child-centered, family-focused place where families go to find hope, support, education, and empowerment in their community to reach their fullest God-given potential.
We will still love and care for children, but we've found a better way. The key to St. Philomena's success in this project comes from combining effective programs and passionate people to help families experiencing poverty, family issues, and lack of services.
Once we have the funds, our program seeks to engage through family assistance and community events. We'll equip families through education and parenting classes, financial empowerment, child and youth development, and spiritual growth. We'll elevate families through family coaching, counseling, and spiritual enrichment.
We'll also be following up with reunited families by continuing case management and securing further transition coaching and support when needed. We will continue to strive to provide food/essential needs, medical support, training, therapy, to meet the basic needs of nearby families.
Continuum of Care
Family-based care and Kinship care
St. Philomena is helping with family-based care services. In most cases, kinship care – where extended families take care of children whose parents have died or abandoned them.
We have brought awareness to the community about the value of family-based care and community-based care.
Once our funding allows and we can successfully transition our model of care, reunited family members will receive financial support, food, school allowance, health care, and parenting coaching from our staff.
Family Strengthening
We know that children have the best chance to thrive when they grow up in a family. That's why we're committed to strengthening families and helping keep them together.
We're raising funds to provide education, healthcare, spiritual development, and skills training - not only for the children in our home but for reunited families, to build a strong foundation for empowerment and self-sufficiency. Also, we seek to help parents further gain skills that help to sustain their families for the long-term, including:
- Necessities, such as food and healthcare as needed
- Parenting skills training with structured programming
- Family support counseling via trained therapists and social workers
- Life skills training
- Economic planning and job skill development so that they earn income from trade skills, such as baking, knitting, sewing, welding, computers, bookkeeping, and more