History

The origin of the Department of Children’s Services now in the Ministry of Gender,Children and Social Development can be traced back to the Colonial era, when it existed as a Juvenile Correctional Institution. Its earliest correctional and rehabilitation institution, the then Kabete Approved School (now Kabete Rehabilitation School) was built between 1910 and 1912, in the lower Kabete area. The school was founded to cater for youth who had been imprisoned for failing to register themselves or their inability to carry the identity card (Kipande).With the reorganization and prior to the attainment of independence, the Approved Schools were up-graded into a fully-fledged Department under the repealed Children and Young Persons Act Cap 141. Initially, the Department was known as the Department of Approved Schools but after independence it became Children's Department, hereby referred to as the Department of Children’s Services.

It is worth noting that the struggle for independence in the country has greatly influenced the development of the Department.As the struggle between the colonial administrators and the Mau Mau intensified, many small children and infants were orphaned, homeless and without support.This in part explains the reason why the majority of the statutory children’s institutions run by the Department are in Central Kenya.