Children Affected by Poverty and Social Exclusion

Around the world, poverty and social exclusion are driving factors behind the placement of children into alternative care. Families give up their children because they are too poor to care for them, or they feel that it is the best way to help them to access basic services such as education and health care. Discrimination and cultural taboos mean that girls, children with disabilities, ethnic minorities, children with HIV/AIDS and children born out of wedlock, make up a disproportionate number of children abandoned into alternative care.

Poor-quality alternative care leads to a vicious cycle of poverty and inequality. With limited family-based alternative care options in many countries, children often end up in institutional care. Already marginalized by poverty or stigmatization, they risk becoming further excluded from society, as they grow up separated from their families and communities. In the worst cases, inadequate or unsafe care standards expose them to neglect, violence and abuse. When they eventually leave institutional care, young adults may then struggle to reintegrate into their communities and face high rates of homelessness, unemployment, chronic poverty, depression and even suicide.

Greater political and financial commitment is needed to tackle the poverty and social exclusion that drives families to give up their children. This includes wide-ranging measures to combat poverty, discrimination and stigmatization, to change attitudes towards single parenthood and disability, and to adopt social policies promoting family empowerment and parenting skills. Greater priority must also be given to developing good-quality family-based care options, such as foster care and adoption, for the girls and boys who need alternative families.

The documents in this section examine the relationship between poverty, social exclusion and placement of children in alternative care.

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Beyond men pikin: Improving Understanding of Post-Conflict Child Fostering in Sierra Leone

Lacey Andrews Gale, 27 Apr 2008

Examines the challenges posed in monitoring and ensuring child protection in informal and formal fostering in post-conflict areas.

2008: National Apology to the Stolen Generations

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, 13 Feb 2008

On 13 February 2008 Prime Minister Kevin Rudd made a formal apology to Australia’s Indigenous peoples, particularly to the Stolen Generations whose lives had been blighted by past government policies of forced child removal and Indigenous assimilation.

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What You Can Do About Alternative Care in South Asia: An Advocacy Kit

UNICEF, 08 Jan 2008

Provides insight into the situation of children outside parental care in South Asia, gaps in legislation, capacity, and services, with reference to national and international legal instruments.

Experiencing Vulnerability in South Africa: The Interaction of Multiple Stressors

Casale, M; Drimie, S; Gillepsie, S, 2008

Research study aimed at understanding the meaning of vulnerability and it's impact on parent's future planning for children in the context of poverty in Malawi and South Africa

Dreams and Disappointments; Migration and Families in the Context of HIV and AIDS

Joint Learning Initiative on Children Affected by AIDS: Learning Group on Families, 2008

This review explores the short- and long-term implications of migration for families in the context of HIV and AIDS, focusing mainly on sub-Saharan Africa.

Evaluation of a Community-Based Orphan Care Program in Uganda

Jini L. Roby & Stacey A. Shaw, 2008

Examines the outcomes of family strengthening model in Uganda.

Journeys of Faith: A Resource Guide for Orphan Care Ministries Helping Children in Africa and Beyond

Faith to Action Initiative , 2008

This resource is designed to be used as a guide for those in the Faith community working with orphaned children.

FIELD Brief #3, Economic Strengthening for Vulnerable Children. Principles of Program Design & Technical Recommendations for Effective Interventions

Save the Children, 2008

A brief illustration of ten economic strengthening tools that can be adapted to address child vulnerability due to HIV/AIDS, conflict, natural disaster, extreme poverty, or other contexts.

Assessment of Capacity to Manage Alternative Care in Zambia - DRAFT

Andrew Dunn, 14 Dec 2007

Country level evaluation of contributing factors to the establishment of an alternative care system.

Chile Solidario: Toward an Integrated Approach to the Delivery of Social Protection

Helen Schulte, 2007

Examination of Chile Solidario social protection programme which shows that the focus of policy makers and researchers should be on integration of cash transfers within broader social protection policies.