This is a milestone week at Child’s i Foundation – we are closing Malaika Babies Home.

From day one Malaika Babies Home was set up to prove that children could be placed into families rather than institutions. We had to change hearts and minds by showing that it was possible. Thanks to your love, time and money we did it. We have placed 200 children into loving families.

Over the past year we have launched an emergency foster care pilot. We have trained foster carers to look after children in their homes instead of at Malaika Babies Home. This pilot has been so successful that we no longer need a 25-bed unit, but tomorrow we are moving into an new eight-bed family centre to provide short-term emergency care for abandoned children for up to three months.

We will of course make a video for you all to see the new centre once we’re settled in.

We were told it was impossible but with support of the Government of Uganda we have placed every child into a family – their own or a foster or adoptive family. I went to a Government meeting this week and they have developed a National Action Plan for Alternative Care – basically how every child in Uganda will grow up in a family. You have all played a part in this transformation of a country and we will continue to support the Government to make this plan a reality.