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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Decent Work and Social Protection For Young People Leaving Care: Gaps and Responses in 12 Countries Worldwide

SOS Children's Villages International, 2018

The aim of this report from SOS Children's Villages is to increase the knowledge and understanding of the needs and rights of young people ageing out of alternative care around the world, in order to inform strategies, policies and services to improve their life chances and outcomes through appropriate preparation for leaving care as well as after-care support.

MEASURE Evaluation: Armenia

Armenian Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (MOLSA), USAID, MEASURE Evaluation, 2018

The Armenian Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (MOLSA), with funding and technical assistance from the Displaced Children and Orphans Fund (DCOF) of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and MEASURE Evaluation, conducted a self-assessment of the care reform system at a participatory stakeholder workshop held in Armenia.

Case Study: Building a system of care for children in Uganda

ChildFund International, 2018

This case study from ChildFund's 2018 Impact Report describes the Deinstitutionalization of Orphans and Vulnerable Children (DOVCU) initiative in Uganda, which aims to to improve the safety and well-being of children outside of family care.

Deinstitutionalisation of Europe’s Children: Questions and Answers

Opening Doors for Europe's Children, 11 Dec 2017

This resource provides quick answers to some of the frequently asked questions about the transition from institutional to family- and community-based care for children, also known as deinstitutionalisation (DI).

Deinstitutionalisation of children in Europe: What do you know?

Opening Doors for Europe’s Children, 11 Dec 2017

To accompany the release of the learning guide “Deinstitutionalisation of Europe’s Children: Questions and Answers”, the Opening Doors for Europe’s Children has prepared an online quiz to test the knowledge and tackle some of the tricky questions on deinstitutionalisation (DI).

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Changing the Way We Care Final Presentation

MacArthur Foundation, 11 Dec 2017

In this video, Catholic Relief Services, Lumos, and Maestral International presented their project: Changing the Way We Care, a project aimed at ending the institutionalization of children.

Deinstitutionalisation of Child Care: Promoting the child's right to a safe family

SOS Children’s Villages Sri Lanka & Children’s Emergency Relief International, 05 Dec 2017

This outline of alternative care, both conceptually and in the Sri Lankan context, provides insight into both the current system and what efforts are yielding results.

Substitute Child Care as a Current Problem of Social Care in the Czech Republic

Viera Vavrecková, Michaela Tichá, & Zlata Ondrúšová - DANUBE: Law, Economics and Social Issues Review, 01 Dec 2017

The objective of this essay is to determine how substitute child care in the Czech Republic has changed in the last ten years.

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Improving Child Welfare Outcomes Balancing Investments in Prevention and Treatment

Jeanne S. Ringel, Dana Schultz, Joshua Mendelsohn, Stephanie Brooks Holliday, Katharine Anne Sieck, Ifeanyi Edochie, Lauren Davis - RAND Corporation, 01 Dec 2017

This study is the first attempt to integrate maltreatment risk, detection, pathways through the child welfare system, and consequences in a comprehensive quantitative model that can be used to simulate the impact of policy changes.