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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Stability and Change in Institutional Alternative Care for Children in Israel and Japan

Michael Maher King, University of Oxford, 25 Aug 2014

This Masters thesis paper, by Michael Maher King of the University of Oxford, reviews the situations of children in institutional alternative care in Israel and Japan.

Meeting Report of the Regional Learning and Consultation Meeting: Strengthening Child Care Systems

Better Care Network, 19 Aug 2014

This report provides an overview of a two-day regional consultancy on strengthening child care systems in Eastern and Southern Africa.

Meeting Report of the Regional Learning and Consultation Meeting: Strengthening Child Care Systems

Better Care Network, 19 Aug 2014

Following a consultative mapping, a regional learning meeting took place on 19-20 August 2014 in Nairobi, Kenya. The theme of this meeting was "Reflection on past, current and future efforts aimed at strengthening child care systems in East and Southern Africa."

Shaping the national social protection strategy in Cambodia: Global influence and national ownership

Huck-ju Kwon, Sarah Cook, Yusun Kim - Global Social Policy, 14 Aug 2014

This article analyses the interactions among global and national actors in the policy dynamics of Cambodia’s National Social Protection Strategy (NSPS); it is intended to disentangle the complex politics of global social policy at the national level.

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Roadmap for the Implementation of the Guidelines on Kinship Care, Foster Care and Supported Independent Living in Liberia

Government of Liberia, Ministry of Health and Social Welfare - USAID, World Learning, Save the Children, Maestral International, 01 Aug 2014

This “roadmap” document outlines the recommended implementation strategies and activities for strengthening family- and community-based alternative care in Liberia. It accompanies the Guidelines on Kinship Care, Foster Care and Supported Independent Living (the Guidelines) and the Capacity Building Plan to Implement the Guidelines (CBP).

Department of Social Welfare Capacity Building Plan to Implement The Guidelines for Children Without Appropriate Care: Rapid Context Assessment – Final Report

Maestral International - USAID, 22 Jul 2014

This Context Assessment, produced by Maestral International, aims to collect and review all relevant information to support the development of the Department of Social Welfare’s (DSW) institutional capacities to execute the new framework for alternative care in Liberia.

Children Without Appropriate Care Desk Review Summary Report: Liberia

Maestral International - N. Beth Bradford, Manolo Cabran, Ghazal Keshavarzian, Edith Gongloe-Weh, Sián Long, 09 Jul 2014

This report provides an overview of Liberia’s alternative care context, identifies key stakeholders who are involved in the child protection field in the country, and summarizes the Child Care Legal and Policy Framework related to alternative care.

Call to Action to end the placement of children under the age of three in residential care endorsed at 35th CARICOM Heads of Government conference

UNICEF, 07 Jul 2014

The Heads of State of the Caribbean region endorsed the Call to Action to end the placement of children under three years of age in residential care institutions at the 35th CARICOM conference.

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Deinstitutionalization in Croatia: A Summary of Open Society Support

– Judith E. Klein – Open Society Foundation, 01 Jul 2014

This paper examines the benefits and challenges of de-institutionalizing disability residential services in Croatia through Open Society Foundation’s Mental Health Initiative (MHI).

Contextual Adaptation of Family Group Conferencing Model: Early Evidence from Guatemala

Jini L. Roby, Joan Pennell, Karen Rotabi, Kelley McCreery Bunkers, and Sully de Ucles, British Journal of Social Work (2014) 1–17, 17 Jun 2014

This article discusses the challenges in protecting Guatemalan children and their families from involuntary separation and presents the process, results and implications of a pilot training in which Guatemalan participants from government and civil society explored the efficacy and feasibility of the FGC model in their country.

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