Future for Iringa street children
The Short-Term Accommodation programme was set up in 2011. Its aim is to provide a place where Street Children can be accommodated temporarily while a more long-term solution is found. At the Drop-in-Centre 2 rooms have been converted into bedrooms. A married couple live at the Drop-in-Centre in their own rooms and act as the centre’s mum and dad. This also means that the Drop-in-Centre can operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to meet the need of any Child at any time.
We use the Short-Term Accommodation in 2 main ways. Firstly if a new Child is found on the street they can be taken to the Drop-in-Centre straight away before getting caught up in street life. This gives us time to find out their story and check it, to trace family and to make a plan with them for the next few months. From the Drop-in-Centre they can then be quickly re-housed with a temporary foster family or their own relatives if suitable while a longer term plan is made for their education and home environment.
Secondly we use the Short-Term Accommodation for any Child who has been living on the Street but now wants to make a change to live with family again and return to school. In this instance we use the Short-Term Accommodation to help them become used to living in a family unit again. The live-in mum and dad are vital here as they act as temporary parents to help the Child relearn how to be a part of a family.
