Orphans and Vulnerable Children - CRIN

Preparing for Home Visits: OVC Needs

In this activity, you will:

 Review the information discussed in Topic 1, emphasising how it can be useful

for participants making home visits to OVC

Facilitator’s notes:

Explain to the participants that they should be attentive to all the different needs of the children

they will be visiting. They should keep in mind the problems experienced by OVC and their effect

on them. Refer the participants again to their home visitor’s handbooks.

For this activity you will need:

 Flipchart and markers

 Handout 2 - Indicators of Child Problems from the last activity

 Extra sheets of blank paper

To facilitate this activity:

1 Organise role-plays with pairs of participants. In each pair, one participant will act the role

of a child (demonstrating the different indicators of problems); the other will play the role of

a home visitor responding to the child. Circulate and give guidance to participants as they do

their role-plays.

2 Explain to the participants that they should be attentive to the indications of problems in the

OVC they will be visiting in the community. Participants should include Handout 2 in their home

visitor’s handbooks and to refer both to this page and Handout 1 when determining whether

children are having their needs met or not.

3 Remind participants that many of the signs of a child’s distress may not be immediately

obvious during a home visit to OVC. For example, behaviours that indicate emotional stress

may need to be viewed over time. One way to get information is to ask questions of

caregivers or siblings about the children. Hand out sheets of paper so that participants can

write up their own checklist of questions based on information in this topic, to get information

about the children, such as:

 Is the child attending school?

 Does this child have friends?

 Is the child happy, or depressed?

These checklists will be included in their home visitor’s handbook.

4 Based on the outcome of their questions and the conclusions they reach when monitoring a child,

a home visitor may need to refer a child in distress to a community service or the child protection

mediator within the CCC, if there is one. Discuss with participants the possible steps to take when

helping a child who is in distress. Participants should list services (such as counselling or health

services) on their Referral Informationpage in their handbooks for future reference.

Activity 4

45 minutes

(^154) Unit 2, Module 2 Guide to Mobilising and Strengthening Community-Led Care for Orphans and Vulnerable Children