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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Building Climate Change Into Care Reform in Eastern and Southern Africa

UNICEF ESARO, Changing the Way We Care (CTWWC), 18 Apr 2023

This UNICEF/CTWWC paper argues that climate change is the greatest current and future threat to children’s care in the Eastern and Southern Africa region. Responding to this threat requires urgent coordinated action related to care reform policies and interventions and climate change responses.

Climate Change and Care Reform

ESARO Regional Learning Platform, 22 Mar 2023

This UNICEF ESARO webinar examines the impacts of climate change on children's care and explains how care reform strategies and programmes need to adapt to address these new realities. The webinar explored how climate change affects communities in Eastern and Southern Africa.

Call for Strengthened Protection and Care Systems to Support Children and Young People

Interagency Statement, 24 Feb 2023

In this joint statement, the co-signatories call on international, European Union and national authorities, to prevent and respond to child protection risks that threaten the well-being of children within and those fleeing Ukraine.