Posted by Chinenye on Wed 16th Sep, 2026 - tori.ng
More children in Nigeria are being sent to care homes even though they still have parents or relatives.
(Nigerian Children. Photo by Daily Post)
A child rights advocate has raised concern about the growing number of children being placed in residential care not because they lack families, but because their families struggle with poverty, displacement and lack of support.
Eghosa Erhumwunse made the concern known on Tuesday at the National Alternative Care Consultative Forum in Abuja.
He noted that Nigeria has good child protection laws, including the Child Rights Act, but having good policies is different from having a system that actually works.
He said many children enter residential care because families are overwhelmed by poverty, displacement, disability, conflict, abuse, neglect or lack of support.
He pointed out that gatekeeping remains inconsistent, social workers are overstretched, data is fragmented, funding is inadequate and children are still left out of decisions about their own lives.
As of the end of 2025, only five states formally adopted the National Guidelines into state practice.
He described this as progress but also showed how much work still needs to be done.
He challenged stakeholders, including the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, state directors of child welfare, international organisations and the judiciary, to move from just having policies to actually implementing them.
He said alternative care reform is not just about moving children out of institutions.
It is about building a strong system to prevent unnecessary family separation in the first place.
Every child deserves a family, protection and to be heard.
The Minister of Women Affairs said every child born in Nigeria deserves to grow up in a safe, loving and protective family.
She expressed concern over the lack of accurate data on children in orphanages and directed state officials to list all orphanages and provide the actual number of children in their care.
A UNICEF specialist said that having policy alone does not change children's lives. Implementation does.
Evidence shows children thrive best in families and communities.