The National Commission for Children (NCC) has extended by two years, the deadline for the closure of orphanages in the country.

In 2012, the government had set 2014 as the deadline for the phasing out of all orphanages and transferring all children therein to foster families.

But by the end of last year, there were still 1,840 children in 29 orphanages.

Over 2,000 children have been settled in foster families to date but some challenges slowed down the initiative, Francois Bisengimana, the Director of Adoption, Protection and Promotion of Child Rights at NCC, said yesterday.

He said extra caution was necessary to ensure that children from orphanages are taken to foster families which would adequately provide for them and make them enjoy the benefits of living in families.

"We first have to inspect interested families to make sure they are able to care for the children properly,” said Bisengimana, adding that they didn’t want to do it in a rush to avoid mistakes.

He said extending the deadline to 2016 gives them ample time to fix the remaining challenges.

Bisengimana explained the need for socio-psychological experts to sensitise willing families and help children settle in well with their new families.

 "We recruited and trained experts and deployed them in three districts. We are soon deploying others in other three districts and hope to cover the entire country by the end of the year,” Bisengimana said.

Why close orphanages

The government’s decision is based on the fact that, although orphanages provide food and other facilities, they do not groom children the way normal families do.

Bisengimana said putting children in foster families is Rwanda’s traditional practice.

"There were no orphanages before 1954. Orphans were absorbed in extended families that tended to them until they were mature. We should go back to that culture,” hje said.

The NCC urges families to willingly take children from orphanages and care for them as their own.