Lumos Supports ACERWC Adoption of Milestone Care Reform Guidance in Africa
22.12.2025
Lumos attended the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child’s (ACERWC) 46th Ordinary Session. Photography by ACERWC.
Last month marked an important milestone for care reform across the African continent at the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child’s (ACERWC) 46th Ordinary Session in the Kingdom of Lesotho.
The Committee adopted General Comment No. 10 on Children Without Parental Care in the context of Article 25 of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child and Care Systems Reform.
General Comment No. 10 supports children across Africa by calling for the prevention of family separation, the prioritisation of family-based care, the deinstitutionalisation of children currently living in institutions, and the full respect of the rights of children in care settings. Lumos has been heavily involved in the development of this document, and these priorities reflect Lumos’ goals for children in Kenya, across Africa, and around the world.
The children are watching. The continent is counting on us. Let us not fail them.
-Honourable Anne Musiwa, ACERWC, Special Rapporteur on Children without Parental Care.
Grace Mwangi, Director of Lumos Kenya, contributed to the development of General Comment No. 10 as a member of the Working Group on Children Without Parental Care. She has worked closely with our partners in Family First for Children Without Parental Care (FAFICA) and with the Committee’s Special Rapporteur, Hon. Anne Musiwa, to help ensure that the General Comment reflects the rights and needs of children in Africa who are without parental care or at risk of being separated from their families. This document is a testament to the importance of working in partnership to realise children’s rights.
The launch event marked an important moment of shared commitment to care reform across Africa. It was opened by Honourable Anne Musiwa, ACERWC, Special Rapporteur on Children without Parental Care, who highlighted the unique love, care, and support that only a family can provide, and encouraged participants to be “bold in our reflections, honest about our challenges, and ambitious in our commitments.”
Grace Mwangi (pictured centre) highlighted the need for child-centred case management and meaningful participation of those with lived experience, reminding participants that care reform is already happening across Africa. Photography by ACERWC.
Namirembe Christine, representing the Uganda Care Leavers Network, shared her personal experience in a powerful and moving address. She spoke about the vital importance of love for all children, which cannot be experienced in institutional care, saying:
You are not given the attention that a child requires. You’re in an institution. You are on your own. No one attends to you. They do not know your heart. You are in an institution; you are not given all the needs you want as a child.
Other speakers included Rose Kagaro from Railway Children Africa and Eyob Berhanu Negash from SOS Children’s Villages International. Photography by ACERWC.
Other speakers included Rose Kagaro from Railway Children Africa and Eyob Berhanu Negash from SOS Children’s Villages International.
General Comment No. 10 represents an important milestone for children in Africa who are in care or at risk of being separated from their families. Lumos welcomes its call for children to be supported in family-based care and for the rights of children in care settings to be fully respected. Crucially, stakeholders must now work together, across sectors and silos, to ensure the effective implementation of its guidance.
Lumos will continue working with the ACERWC and FAFICA to promote care reform across the continent, with partnership and collaboration remaining central to how we drive change beyond the countries where we operate.
Lumos extends our congratulations to the ACERWC and to the members of FAFICA for their work on the development of General Comment No. 10, and we look forward to continuing our partnership.
