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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Country Care Review: Romania

Better Care Network , 13 Jul 2017

This country care review includes the care-related Concluding Observations adopted by the Committee on the Rights of the Child during the seventy-fifth session (15 May 2017 - 02 Jun 2017) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Country Care Review: Bhutan

Better Care Network , 05 Jul 2017

Too Hard? Highly Vulnerable Teens in Tasmania

Catherine Robinson - Anglicare Tasmania, 02 Jul 2017

This report presents the findings of an investigation on a cohort of highly vulnerable teens (aged 10-17 years) whose needs for care have fallen outside families, between government agencies and between non-government services. The report identifies the gaps in care received by this cohort and offers key recommendations for how these gaps might be filled.

Country Care Review: Antigua and Barbuda

Better Care Network , 30 Jun 2017

This country care review includes the care-related Concluding Observations adopted by the Committee on the Rights of the Child during the seventy-fifth session (15 May 2017 - 2 Jun 2017) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Child Rights in the Global Compacts: Recommendations for protecting, promoting and implementing the human rights of children on the move in the proposed Global Compacts

Jacqueline Bhabha and Mike Dottridge - Initiative for Child Rights in the Global Compacts, 24 Jun 2017

This working document by the Initiative for Child Rights in the Global Compacts, a multilateral initiative supported by 26 organizations, provides goals, targets and indicators with respect to six priority issues involving refugee and migrant children.

Strengthening the Social Welfare Workforce to address Violence against Children in care

Jonna Karlsson - UNICEF, 23 Jun 2017

This UNICEF presentation describes the need for social service workforce strengthening in East and Southern Africa and presents recommendations based on a case example from Rwanda.

Country Care Review: Lebanon

Better Care Network , 22 Jun 2017

Official Opening Remarks by the Director of Children's Services in Kenya at the Africa Expert Consultation on Violence against Children in All Care Settings

Noah Sanganyi - Department of Children's Services, Kenya, 21 Jun 2017

This document includes the opening remarks given at the Africa Expert Consultation on Violence against Children (VAC) in All Care Settings by Mr. Noah Sanganyi, the Director of Kenya's Department of Children's Services.