5 Siblings Reunited and Working Toward Reunification with Biological Family

In Uganda, our BEB team is actively working to reunify a set of 5 siblings to the biological family after spending 9 years in institutions. These 5 siblings (one boy and four girls) were placed in institutions due to child abandonment. With the help of the Probation and Social Welfare officer and the social worker, the children were enrolled in different licensed and approved homes by the government. Unfortunately, the boy was separated from his four sisters because of age limitations. The sisters were transferred to a facility for teenage girls while the brother was transferred to a facility for children below 5 years.  

While at the facility of the four sisters, the BEB team was conducting training on CFS. The team discovered a match with a brother who had already been registered in the CFS system. The BEB team was able to connect the social workers of these different homes to follow up on possible reunification.  

After connecting, the social workers agreed to conduct a background check on the location where the children were originally found (before being placed in institutions). The team was able to contact the neighbors who knew the children. They were able to give the locations of the paternal grandmother and the paternal uncle of the children.  

After visiting both homes, the BEB team decided to pursue family reunification with the children’s paternal uncle. While the children are still placed in institutions, they have been visiting their uncle’s home for holidays and family gatherings. Because of the connections made through CFS, the siblings have also had the opportunity to visit each other at their respective institutions to promote family bonding.  

The BEB team is confident that reunification is in the future for these children. The uncle was extremely happy to receive the team from the Ministry of Gender, Labor, and Social Development. He notified the BEB team that he is willing to take on the responsibility of the children after not seeing them for 9 years since their disappearance. With the continued work of CFS and the BEB team in Uganda, these children will no longer be in institutional care but returned to their family.