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.   

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U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office,

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Justin Rogers, Aisling Ledwith, Florence Martin, Enrique Restoy, and Caroline Rose,

In 2024, the 1st Global Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence Against Children (VAC) brought together 103 governments to make formal commitments to prevent and respond to VAC. This review analyses the pledges announced at the time of the conference, while acknowledging that some governments may have subsequently refined or expanded their commitments, as noted in the limitations.

Natia Partskhaladze & Hugh Salmon ,

This chapter, in the book Children and Family Social Work, reviews the reform of children’s care systems in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, tracing the historical reliance on large-scale residential institutions under communism and the subsequent shift toward community-based alternatives after the Soviet Union’s collapse. While institutionalization has significantly declined and community services have expanded, challenges remain in funding, workforce development, and preventing family separation while protecting children from harm.

Jeremy Shiffman, Innocent Kamya, Adam D. Koon, et al.,

This article examines how national care systems for orphans and vulnerable children in Cambodia, Uganda, and Zambia are governed, drawing on case studies and a review of existing research. It highlights the gap between strong policy commitments and weak on-the-ground implementation, pointing to historical, political, and capacity-related factors that hinder effective care and protection.

UNICEF and Maestral,

The paper provides an overview of Ukraine’s legal and policy framework related to child protection and care reform. The document reviews key national laws, strategies and regulations to assess their alignment with international child rights standards and the objectives of the reform to ensure that every child grows up in a family environment.

UNICEF and Maestral,

This paper introduces the Collective Impact (CI) approach as a structured, equity-focused framework for advancing complex care reforms involving multiple actors. It explains how coordinated action across government, civil society, communities and non-traditional partners can move efforts from fragmented or isolated interventions toward shared goals, common metrics and sustained systems-level change.

Better Care Network, Child Identity Protection (CHIP), Institute for Inspiring Children's Futures, UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Pathfinders for Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies & UNICEF,

This webinar, held December 16, 2025, spotlighted the powerful intersection between two consequential global advocacy movements in human rights: the reform of alternative care systems for children and the advancement of children’s access t

Ivana Dobrotić and Blanka Plasová,

The multiple and extensive transformations that have occurred in Eastern Europe since the 1990s did not bypass care, bringing diverse care regimes. This chapter, in the Research Handbook on Social Care Policy, aims to explore the main trends in the development of care policies in Croatia (a post-Yugoslav country) and the Czech Republic (a Visegrád country).

Mirosław Grewiński and Marek Kawa,

This article explores the process of deinstitutionalization as a central challenge of contemporary social policy in Europe, with a special focus on Poland as an example of good practices for Ibero-American countries. The Polish case shows that implementing DI requires coordinated strategies, investment in human capital, digitalization, and multi-sectoral cooperation.