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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Children in Institutions: The Beginning of the End?

María Ángeles García Llorente, Laura Martínez-Mora Charlebois, Valerio Ducci, Ana María Farías, 2003

This publication provides an account of historical processes in Spain and Italy which have led to a transformation of social child protection policies and an abandonment of the most widely-used mechanism of social exclusion, namely institutionalization.

National Seminar on Effective Foster Care: Bangalore, India

Vathsalya Charitable Trust, 2003

Explores temporary foster care as an alternative to institutionalization in India. Emphasis on analyzing and reforming guidelines for foster care.

Changing Minds, Policies and Lives: Gatekeeping Services for Vulnerable Children and Families

Andy Bilson, Louise Fox, Ragnar Gotestam, and Judith Harwin, 2003

Practical guidance, case examples, and tools to assess, monitor, and evaluate child protection services and facilitate reform away from institutionalization of children.

Creating a Protective Environment For Children

Anna Nordenmark, 2003

This report is the result of a seminar held in Kazakhstan 2004. It focuses on social welfare sector reform, and includes topics such as expanding legislative agendas and financing frameworks, as well as gate keeping. Case studies of reform processes from Romania, Tajikistan and Serbia are discussed. Includes conference agenda.

Changing Minds, Policies and Lives: Improving Standards in Child Protection Services

Andy Bilson, Louise Fox, Ragnar Gotestam, and Judith Harwin, 2003

Contains practical tools and policy guidance for family and child welfare policy makers and practitioners. Relevant topics include gatekeeping, redirecting resources into preventive and family based services, and standards of care.

Leave No Child Out Campaign

NGO/UNICEF Regional Network for Children (RNC), 2002

This paper examines the negative impact of institutional care in central eastern Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Baltics region. It promotes community-based care alternatives and provides statistics. It also includes a list of useful resources addressing orphaned and vulnerable children.

Costs of Care and Support

Tim Quinlan and Chris Desmond, 31 Dec 2001

Discussion of the cost of care and support for children affected by HIV/AIDS in South Africa, with a recommendation for the combined use of state based interventions and community based solutions.

India Country Report

The College of Social Work, Nirmala Niketan, 2001

Country report of India on the situation of children in residential care in anticipation of the Second International Conference on Children and Residential Care: New Strategies for a New Millennium, to be held in Stockholm 12 – 15 May 2003.

Defying Prejudice, Advancing Equality - 1: Minorities in Central and Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union

Richard Carter, 2001

Analyzes discrimination against minorities in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Suggests projects to counter discrimination and includes points for good practices in dealing with prejudice.

Transitioning From Institutional Care of Orphans to Community-Based Care: The Experience of Ethiopia's Jerusalem Association Children's Homes

Mulugeta Gebru and Rebecca Atnafou, 2001

An account of Jerusalem Association Children’s Homes’ work involving deinstitutionalization of orphaned children in Ethiopia. The report is a summary of the steps taken by this organization to reunify/reintegrate the children into their families and society and some next steps are also mentioned.