Child Care and Protection System Reforms

Social welfare sector reform is increasingly common, particularly in transitional countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Increasing attention has been paid to the development of preventive community based child and family welfare programs that would, in coordination with health and education programs and social assistance, provide a range of support for vulnerable families.

Recognition of the damaging effects of institutional care on children and its high cost has influenced governments to redirect resources towards alternative family and community-based care practices such as kinship care, fostering, and adoption. Redirecting resources in the context of social welfare reforms requires a commitment from governments to provide adequate financing for effective policy implementation.

Funding availability raises a variety of issues regarding the level and type of support to be provided, the private or public management of services, and the entitlement process. Social welfare should protect the rights of children and their caretakers via fair and clear criteria of support provisions, with transparent procedures for the effective allocation of services.

Social welfare reforms to protect and support children and families need to be built on legal protections and child care policies which reflect the same child centred goals. Alternative forms of community based care, combined with social reintegration programmes and family support services, must be developed to reduce the use of institutions and enable children leaving institutions to rejoin their communities.

The resources in this section focus on country initiatives in reforming their social welfare sector to finance community based care developments.

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How Collaboration, Early Engagement and Collective Ownership Increase Research Impact: Strengthening Community-based Child Protection Mechanisms In Sierra Leone

Michael Wessells, David Lamin, Marie Manyeh, Dora King, Lindsay Stark, Sarah Lilley and Kathleen Kostelny, 06 Mar 2017

Using inter-agency action research in Sierra Leone, this chapter provides a case study on how a highly collaborative approach can enable child protection research to achieve a significant national impact.

Desinternar, sí. Pero ¿cómo?: Controversias para comprender y transformar las propuestas institucionales de protección a la infancia y la adolescencia

Diego Silva Balerio y Pablo Domínguez Collette - UNICEF Uruguay y La Barca, 01 Mar 2017

En esta publicación, a partir de la experiencia de trabajo y la reflexión sobre su propia práctica, La Barca ordena, sistematiza y pone a disposición de todos los actores del sistema de protección a la infancia de Uruguay los principales aprendizajes de la tarea realizada en los últimos años.

Case study on child protection within OVC programs: Integrated programming for improved child outcomes in Namutumba, Uganda

Suzanne Andrews - Catholic Relief Services , 01 Mar 2017

This case study describes the process, methods and results of the approach promoted by World Education’s Bantwana Initiative under two USAID/PEPFAR-funded consortium projects in Uganda: SUNRISE-OVC and STAR-EC.

Ending violence in childhood: A global imperative

A. K. Shiva Kumar et al. - Psychology, Health and Medicine, 01 Mar 2017

This editorial explores the experience and impact of childhood violence around the world and calls for a coordinated and multi-sectoral response to prevent violence, recognizing the need to identify and address the root causes of family separation and institutionalization.

Know Violence in Childhood: A Global Learning Initiative - Special Issue of the Journal of Psychology, Health and Medicine

Know Violence in Childhood: A Global Learning Initiative - Psychology, Health and Medicine, 01 Mar 2017

This Special Issue of the Journal of Psychology, Health and Medicine contains fifteen of several papers commissioned by the Know Violence Initiative. Together, these papers illustrate the complexity of violence experienced by children and present evidence-based strategies for addressing and preventing childhood violence.

Institutionalization and the commodification of children

Georgette Mulheir and Lynn Lina Gyllensten - The Routledge Handbook of Global Child Welfare, 16 Feb 2017

This chapter explores the drivers behind the continued, and in some parts of the world, growing, institutionalization of children.

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Zambia National Consultation Accelerating Children’s Care Reform Report

Better Care Network, 07 Feb 2017

The Zambia National Consultation Accelerating Children’s Care Reform Report is a summary report of a stakeholders’ meeting held between key stakeholders in children’s care in May, 2016.

The System of Social Services in Bulgaria and the Process of Deinstitutionalisation of Children

V.K. Terziev - Conference Paper. Conference: The VII International Academic Congress “Fundamental and Applied Studies in EU and CIS Countries”, 01 Feb 2017

This paper examines the deinstitutionalisation process in Bulgaria.

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Formative evaluation of UNICEF's strategy and approach to child protection systems building: Final review (Vol. 1)

Carolyn Hamilton, Elizabeth Yarrow and Kara Apland - Coram International , 10 Jan 2017

This report evaluates UNICEF's child protection systems building approach in Myanmar, including the review methodology, findings, conclusions and lessons learned, as well as recommendations for the future.

“Letting Kids Be Kids”: Youth Voice and Activism to Reform Foster Care and Promote “Normalcy”

Bernard P. Perlmutter - Studies in Law, Politics, and Society, 2017

This chapter examines stories that foster care youth tell to legislatures, courts, policymakers, and the public to influence policy decisions in the US.

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