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Child Abuse and Neglect in Charitable Children’s Institutions in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya: A Challenge of Context

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Child Maltreatment in Residential Care

Abstract

This chapter describes findings from a longitudinal cohort of orphaned and separated children and adolescents in western Kenya, comparing those living in extended family households (HHs), institutional settings (Charitable Children’s Institutions, CCIs), and on the street (street children, SC). The present analysis is from 1158 orphaned and separated adolescents aged 10–18 years at baseline. The ISPCAN Child Abuse Screening Tool for Children at Home (ICAST-CH) was used to ascertain child abuse and neglect. At baseline, 43% of participants reported having ever experienced any abuse: 31% emotional, 38% physical, and 15% sexual. After 2 years of follow-up, 44% of participants reported new abuse, 30% emotional (26–28% in CCIs and HHs, 71% among SC), 38% physical (33–37% in CCIs and HHs, 81% among SC), and 15% sexual (11% in CCIs, 15% in HHs, and 40% among SC). Overall, 40–44% of participants in CCIs and HHs, and 82% of SC, reported experiencing any new abuse during the follow-up period. After adjusting for age, sex, orphan status, and length of time in the household and clustering at the household or institutional level, we found no difference in the prevalence or incidence of abuse comparing participants in CCIs and those in HHs, but SC were 4.7 times more likely than participants in HHs to experience abuse, both at baseline and follow-up. These data suggest unacceptably high levels of child abuse occurring among orphaned and separated children and adolescents living in CCIs and HHs, with the highest levels of child abuse occurring among street-connected children and youth.

A child does not question the wrongs of grown-ups; s/he suffers them.

Chief Dan George (unknown).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Epidemiology, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, 155 College Street, 5th floor, M5T 3M7, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Paula Braitstein

  2. College of Health Sciences, School of Medicine, Moi University, Eldoret, Kenya

    Paula Braitstein, Samuel Ayaya, David Ayuku & Lukoye Atwoli

  3. School of Public Health, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA

    Allison DeLong

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  1. Paula Braitstein
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  2. Samuel Ayaya
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  3. David Ayuku
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  4. Allison DeLong
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  5. Lukoye Atwoli
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Correspondence to Paula Braitstein .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Social and Behavioral Science, Southwestern Christian University, Bethany, Oklahoma, USA

    Adrian V. Rus

  2. Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, Texas, USA

    Sheri R. Parris

  3. Social Pediatrics and Obstetrics Research Department, National Institute for Mother and Child Health “Alessandrescu-Rusescu”, Bucuresti, Romania

    Ecaterina Stativa

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Braitstein, P., Ayaya, S., Ayuku, D., DeLong, A., Atwoli, L. (2017). Child Abuse and Neglect in Charitable Children’s Institutions in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya: A Challenge of Context. In: Rus, A., Parris, S., Stativa, E. (eds) Child Maltreatment in Residential Care. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57990-0_16

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