Interim Care Centers for Children Affected by Ebola in Liberia

The project aimed to provide a safe and protective environment for children affected by EVD, where they could receive psychosocial support and be monitored for EVD symptoms for 21 days. The goal of the project was to ensure that children who were asymptomatic for EVD but at high risk would be monitored for symptoms and referred for early health intervention if they became symptomatic. The project focused on creating an interim protective environment for children separated from family due to Ebola exposure, providing care, protection, and support for early return to a parent or other appropriate kinship or foster care arrangement. The project addressed two OFDA sectors: Protection and Health. The geographic coverage of the project included the five counties of Bomi, Bong, Margibi, Montserrado, and Nimba. The Protection Sector interventions aimed to ensure that at-risk children received interim support for their well-being, protection, and reunification with their parents or other appropriate caregivers. The Interim Care Centers (ICCs) created a safe and protective environment for "contact" children, limiting further spread of the disease. During their temporary stay at the centers, children received nutrition support and were provided with psychosocial support activities through recreation and psychosocial counseling. ChildFund Liberia, in partnership with two local NGOs (SEARCH and ANDP), set up two ICCs in Margibi and Nimba counties and continued supporting and building ICC staff capacity in child protection at the existing ICC and Transit Center in Montserrado County. Three ICCs and one Transit Center were operational during this quarter. ChildFund ensured that the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for setting up ICCs were followed as provided by the government of Liberia through the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Protection (MGCSP) with support from UNICEF. In collaboration with the MGCSP and MOH, ChildFund Liberia and its two sub-recipients (SEARCH & ANDP) reunified 51 out of 54 children who completed their 21 days of observation for symptoms of EVD at the ICCs, resulting in a 94% reunification rate. Of these reunified children, 32 children (63%) were reunified with their family, 16 children (31%) were reunified with appropriate kinship care, and 3 children (6%) were reunified with foster families. ChildFund continues to play a major role in the lives of children who were reunified with parents and/or other caregivers after leaving the ICCs. The Community Links SMS Platform was developed and rolled out by ChildFund to monitor EVD-affected children's well-being in project communities, especially those children who are placed in kinship care or foster care. The platform was aligned with the revised child tracking tool of the existing Inter-Agency Child Protection Information Management System (IMS) utilized by the MGCSP to ensure complementarity. Key gaps identified by the MGCSP included capacity building for social workers and gCHVs and also the need for strengthening the Child Protection System at the community level to effectively address the challenges facing children who are survivors of EVD.