Leaving Alternative Care and Reintegration

It is important to support children who are preparing to leave care. This includes helping young people as they ‘age out’ of the care system and transition to independent living, as well as children planning to return home and reintegrate with their families. In either case, leaving care should be a gradual and supervised process that involves careful preparation and follow-up support to children and families.

The transition from alternative care to independent living can be challenging for young people. While some departures from care may be well planned, others may be sudden or unexpected, leaving young people emotionally and financially ill-equipped to cope with change. Without adequate preparation for leaving care and support during the aftercare phase, young people may face risks such as long-term unemployment, substance abuse, involvement in criminal activities and homelessness. Studies indicate that the biggest barriers to transitioning children out of care includes the absence of supportive relationships, educational challenges, housing instability and economic challenges (unemployment).

Reducing these risks involves working with children to plan for life after care and adulthood– including helping them to determine the most appropriate living environment, develop necessary life, financial management and job skills, and ensure that they have a reliable support system in place. Once children leave care, they should be encouraged to maintain contact with their previous care givers and friends, have access to basic services and quality housing with financial assistance, and be supported to follow educational, vocational and employment opportunities. Above all, evidence indicates that young people who benefit from gradual, extended and supported transitions from care have better outcomes than those who leave early and abruptly.

Girls and boys who leave care to return home can also benefit from a gradual process of reintegration with their families – both before and after the event. Initially this should involve a comprehensive assessment of whether the problems that led to family separation (such as poverty or social problems) have been adequately resolved, and whether a return home is in a child’s best interests. If so, the child, family and alternative caregivers should be supported to prepare and plan for reintegration – which may involve increasing the frequency and duration of children’s family visits before the final return, helping to build parenting skills, assessing families’ financial, practical and emotional support needs and developing a care plan to address them.

Once children are reunited with their families, ongoing support and supervision can play a critical role in ensuring that reintegration is lasting. For example social or community workers can provide counselling support, facilitate families’ access to social protection benefits and make sure that children have the academic support required to catch up at a new school. In some cases, children’s extended family and the broader community can also be encouraged to provide emotional or practical support.

This section contains literature on children leaving alternative care in non-emergency settings. This includes lessons learned and best practices regarding family reintegration, as well as guidance for supporting young people as they leave the care system and transition to independent living.

Displaying 401 - 410 of 977

Browse Other Topics

Deinstitutionalization of OVC In Ghana’s Central Region Factors That Impact Alternative Care In Bawjiase And Surroundings

Beugre, Anita Princia W. - Leiden University, 01 Sep 2019

Set in Central Region Ghana, using Country-Side Children’s Welfare Home (CCWH) as the main case study, this thesis investigates the underlying factors that are preventing families in the Bawjiase and surroundings from opening their homes and hearts to vulnerable children.

View Article

ASPIRES Family Care Summary Research Report

Emily Namey & Lisa Laumann - FHI 360, 01 Sep 2019

The Accelerating Strategies for Practical Innovation and Research in Economic Strengthening (ASPIRES) Family Care Project focused on how economic strengthening (ES) interventions can help prevent unnecessary separation of children from families as well as support the reintegration into family care of children who were already separated. This mixed methods evaluation was implemented alongside programming that included longitudinal quantitative data collection with all participating FARE and ESFAM households at three time points to assess a range of indicators related to household economic and family well-being, as well as in-depth, longitudinal qualitative research to help understand how (well), from participants’ perspectives, the FARE and ESFAM interventions aligned with perceived drivers of separation and families’ experienced child-level effects of programming.

Funding Supports and Services for Young People Transitioning from Foster Care

Lynn Tiede and Kristina Rosinsky - Child Trends, 01 Sep 2019

This report draws on interviews the authors conducted with 19 child welfare leaders in eight jurisdictions to highlight how jurisdictions are using existing funding sources to serve this population and examine the funding challenges they continue to face.

Professional Stakeholders’ Concerns about Reunification Case Plan Requirements

Amy C. D’Andrade - Social Service Review, 01 Sep 2019

In this qualitative study, attorneys, caseworkers, managers, and service providers from four jurisdictions are interviewed to understand practice and decision-making in reunification case planning and service delivery.

View Article

Strengthening Caregiver Parenting Skills for Family Reintegration

Coordinating Comprehensive Care for Children (4Children), 01 Sep 2019

This Practitioner Brief from the the Coordinating Comprehensive Care for Children (4Children) project presents key learning and recommendations from the Keeping Children in Healthy and Protective Families (KCHPF) project in Uganda, which supported the reintegration of children living in residential care back into family care through the provision of a household-based parenting program, individualized case management support and a reunification cash grant aimed at strengthening the reintegration process.

Foster Care and Reintegration: Different Portuguese Similarities

Rachel Baptista, Maria Helena Zamora, Eduardo Santos - International Journal of Advanced Engineering Research and Science (IJAERS) , 01 Sep 2019

This article examines the family reintegration process for those in care in Portugal and Brazil.

Meeting the Costs of Family Care: Household Economic Strengthening to Prevent Children’s Separation and Support Reintegration - A Resource Guide

Lisa Laumann and Emily Namey, FHI 360, 01 Sep 2019

This resource guide aims to assist program designers, funders, and implementers to select and incorporate appropriate and effective household economic strengthening (HES) measures into programs to preserve or reestablish family care for children.

ASPIRES Family Care Family Resilience (FARE) Project: Endline Quantitative Findings Report

Emily Namey, Lisa Laumann, Eunice Okumu, Seth Zissette - FHI 360, 01 Sep 2019

The Family Resilience (FARE) project was developed to help build the evidence base on how to appropriately match economic strengthening (ES) activities with families at risk of family-child separation and with families in the process of reintegrating a previously separated child. The project offered an opportunity for learning about how to provide ES and other family strengthening services and how well they worked. This report focuses on the latter and summarizes changes in key indicators related to family-child separation over the course of the project.

ASPIRES Family Care: Economic Strengthening Interventions to Prevent Family Separation and Support Reintegration of Children in Family Care (ESFAM) Project Endline Quantitative Findings Report

Emily Namey, Lisa Laumann, Eunice Okumu, Seth Zissette, Christian Zaytoun - FHI 360, 01 Sep 2019

The Economic Strengthening to Keep and Reintegrate Children in Family Care (ESFAM) project was developed to help build the evidence base on how to appropriately match economic strengthening (ES) activities with families at risk of family-child separation and with families in the process of reintegrating a previously separated child. In addition to supporting families, ESFAM offered an opportunity for learning about how to provide these services and how well they worked. This report focuses on the latter and summarizes changes in key indicators related to family-child separation over the course of the project.

Challenges and Opportunities Experienced by Young Adults Transitioning Out of Informal Kinship-Based Foster Care in Bikita District, Zimbabwe

Charles Dziro - Emerging Adulthood, 28 Aug 2019

This article examines the challenges encountered by, and the opportunities available to, young adults as they transition from informal kinship-based foster care to independent living in the Bikita District of Zimbabwe.

View Article