Availability of Resources and Successful Rehabilitation of Orphaned and Vulnerable Children in Kajiado County, Kenya

Rehabilitation programmes for orphaned and vulnerable children (OVC) in Kenya depend on the timely provision of financial, educational, health, and infrastructural resources, yet the extent to which resource availability relates to rehabilitation outcomes has rarely been established quantitatively at the county level. This study determined the influence of the availability of resources on the successful rehabilitation of OVC in Kajiado County. A correlational survey design was applied to a target population of 2,590 care leavers aged 18 years and above who had previously received rehabilitation-related support across the county's five sub-counties. Stratified random sampling proportionate to sub-county yielded 382 administered questionnaires, of which 354 were usable, an effective response rate of 92.67%. Availability of resources was measured on an eight-item Likert-type scale covering financial support, education and vocational support, health care, food, shelter, staffing, and facilities (Cronbach's α = 0.817), and successful rehabilitation was measured using a ten-item composite index. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and multiple regression in SPSS. Availability of resources recorded a construct mean of 3.3775 (SD = 0.8064), the lowest mean among the three care-related support factors examined in the wider study, though still within the agreed range of the scale. A Pearson correlation showed a moderate to strong, positive, and statistically significant relationship between availability of resources and successful rehabilitation (r = 0.541, p < 0.01). In a regression model that considered availability of resources jointly with other care-related support factors, availability of resources remained a statistically significant positive predictor of successful rehabilitation (β = 0.203, t = 4.608, p < 0.001), leading to rejection of the null hypothesis. The study concludes that availability of resources is significantly and positively associated with successful rehabilitation of OVC in Kajiado County, and recommends that county government, child welfare agencies, and rehabilitation providers prioritise the adequacy and safety of rehabilitation facilities, which recorded the weakest item-level rating within this construct.