Care homes adherence to rules and regulations aimed at protecting children living there: a case study of Kinondoni municipality

This study sought to examine how the emerging institution and organization reforms are changing performance of children’s homes for the best interest of children. Focus was on rules and regulations for protecting children, how they were implemented and their effectiveness to children’s homes in Kinondoni municipality, Dar es Salaam. The study used a mixture of secondary and primary data collection methods. For getting primary data, key informant interviews, Open-ended questionnaire, and observations were used as data collection methods. The study purposively sampled respondents in children’s home staff, directors in children’s home, social welfare, and police officer in Kinondoni municipality. Random sampling procedure was used to get children respondents living in children’s homes in Kinondoni municipality. The study findings confirmed that Rules and Regulations of the Child Act of 2009 were not effectively implemented in children’s homes. The results showed that many staff in children’s homes had low education level such that regulations written in English could not be simple to deal with. Also there was poor awareness of regulations concerning child protection. Some children’s homes had no copy of regulations as well as the Child Act of 2009.The study recommends that the Tanzanian government and other stakeholders for children should provide training on how to use regulations and guidelines of the child to all staff, Directors of children’s homes should increase knowledge and skills on protecting children so as to realize good children. The government should make sure that official documents are available and made reader, friendly with simple language for children’s home staff to understand and interpreted regardless of their low education level. Owners of children’s homes should employ care takers who are well trained on child care, or who have certificate in social work. The government should provide first aid kit with regular equipment such as gloves, medicines and other materials required for first aid to all children’s homes.