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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What Are the Risks and Obstacles in Implementing a Public Health Approach to the Well-Being and Protection of Children?

Maria Harries and Melissa O’Donnell - Re-Visioning Public Health Approaches for Protecting Children, 27 Apr 2019

In this chapter from the book Re-Visioning Public Health Approaches for Protecting Children, the authors critically examine the practical and organisational issues as well as the ideational and procedural ones that challenge policy makers, leaders and those delivering services as they attempt to re-focus child protection service delivery toward earlier intervention and prevention within a public health framework.

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Phase 9 Florida Title IV-E Waiver Demonstration Evaluation Final Report (10/2013-09/2018)

Mary I. Armstrong, et al - Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute, University of South Florida, 29 Mar 2019

This report presents findings from an implementation analysis aimed at describing implementation of the U.S. state of Florida Title IV-E Demonstration Project, which allowed the state to use certain federal funds more flexibly, for services other than room and board expenses for children served in out-of-home care.