Community Based Care Mechanisms

The Guidelines for the Alternative Care for Children highlight the importance of providing children with care within family-type settings in their own communities.  This allows girls and boys to maintain ties with natural support networks such as relatives, friends and neighbours, and minimizes disruption to their education, cultural and social life.  Keeping children within their communities (ideally as close as possible to their original homes), also allows girls and boys to stay in touch with their families, and facilitates potential reintegration.

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Changing the Way We Care,

This handbook is a summarized, user-friendly version of the operating procedures for alternative family- and community-based care options. It provides an overview of each type of care, key considerations, and the process followed for placement. The handbook aims to provide an easy and quick reference to critical information and “how to” about alternative family- and community-based care placements.

Changing the Way We Care,

These illustrations from Changing the Way We Care and the Government of Kenya showcase live community engagement sessions on how to develop Kafaalah messages and promote Kafaalah for family-based care.

Changing the Way We Care, Republic of Kenya,

The Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for the Alternative Family-based and Community-based Care of Children in Kenya provide guidance for the comprehensive implementation of the Guidelines for Alternative Family Care for Children in Kenya (2014).

Family for Every Child,

Family for Every Child's new Participatory Evaluation Toolkit places the knowledge and experience of local Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) at its centre. It offers an alternative to traditional evaluation dynamics, by drawing on the strength of local solutions. 

Child Identity Protection (CHIP),

This research brought together the testimonies of adoption professionals (national and international) concerned with the situation of abandoned and placed children in five South American countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia and Peru. The aim of this study is to gain a better understanding of the new realities of adoption, in a context where these countries have chosen to limit or stop their foreign adoption practices. 

Association for Alternative Family Care of Children, in collaboration with the National Council for Children Services and Department of Children’s Services,

This booklet emphasizes the importance of family based care for the care of orphaned and vulnerable children (OVC) in Kenya, provides answers to regularly asked questions, and lists current government efforts to support OVC, including the policy and legal frameworks and existing forms of family and community-based care.

Christian Alliance for Orphans (CAFO),

This document provides guidance on how to conduct a community mapping, a step in building a system to care for vulnerable children and families.

Better Care Network,

In this video, Grace Mwangi shares key lessons from her experience working in community-based social work with children and families at risk of separation in Kenya.

Ranjan Kanti Panda, Lopamudra Mullick, Subhadeep Adhikari, Neepa Basu, Archana Kumari - Institutionalised Children Explorations and Beyond,

This article reflects different programmes and resource components that may be promoted to keep children with either their own family or within alternative family care, satisfying the rights of their overall development.

Ghazal Keshavarzian & Joel Borgström - Institutionalised Children Explorations and Beyond,

This article will make a case for investing in families and communities rather than orphanages by putting a spotlight on ECFG member investments in Asia.