Cost of Care and Redirection of Resources

Developing a high quality alternative care system requires adequate funding and resources. In countries that are working to reform their care systems, efforts are needed to redirect financing from residential care options towards new initiatives that support parents, prevent family separation, and provide children with a range of family and community based care alternatives.

Cost-benefit studies of different forms of alternative care demonstrate that it makes good economic sense for governments to invest in family based alternatives rather than residential care. While costs may increase for a temporary period as countries make the shift to family-based care – for example to fund training of social workers, develop social welfare services and establish tracing and foster programmes – in the long run it costs less than keeping children in institutions where funds are required to pay salaries for staff, maintain buildings and provide food and other services. The bottom line is that for the cost of keeping one child in residential care, many more girls and boys can be supported within families.

Funding for care reform involves allocating (or redirecting) resources from institutional care towards a range of family-based care services, investing in the development of a competent social welfare workforce, supporting carers, and providing financial and practical support to children leaving care. It also means investing in programmes that tackle the factors that lead to family separation and children being placed in alternative care – such as poverty, unemployment, disability, health and conflict. This could include promoting access to basic health, education and housing services, developing social protection and financial assistance initiatives, and working to strengthen families through parenting education or counselling.

Governments also need to make a commitment to putting in place licensing and regulation mechanisms to ensure that funding of care is motivated by children’s best interest rather than the financial benefit of the provider – and that resources are directed towards families rather than institutions. Unfortunately in many countries, there are vested interests in admitting or keeping children within formal care (particularly residential facilities) for profit-making, and large numbers of private care facilities operate outside the control of authorities.

The literature in this section focuses on budget and cost analysis pertaining to children’s care, including preventive services to support family based care and the provision of a range of alternative care options.

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The Effects of Socioeconomic Vulnerability, Psychosocial Services, and Social Service Spending on Family Reunification: A Multilevel Longitudinal Analysis

Tonino Esposito et al. - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 09 Sep 2017

This paper examines the extent to which socioeconomic vulnerability, psychosocial service consultations, and preventative social services spending impacts the reunification for children placed in out-of-home care.

Le Financement des Orphelinats aux Frais des Droits des Enfants

Jamie Vernaelde and Eugene Guillaume - Lumos, 22 Jun 2017

Pour comprendre la raison pour laquelle les orphelinats continuent de se développer en Haïti et la façon dont ils affectent les enfants, Lumos a mené une enquête sur les modes de financement et les ramifications de la vie en orphelinat sur les enfants élevés entre leurs murs.

Funding Haitian Orphanages at the Cost of Children’s Rights

Jamie Vernaelde and Eugene Guillaume - Lumos, 22 Jun 2017

In this report, Lumos investigates the funding patterns of Haitian orphanages as well as the ramifications of orphanage life for the children raised within them to better understand why orphanages continue to flourish in the country.

Ending the Era of Institutional Care in Europe: Call for Action

Opening Doors for Europe's Children, 02 Jun 2017

In this Call to Action, Opening Doors for Europe's Children presents three key demands to the European Union to promote the prioritisation and funding of deinstitutionalisation in the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF).

Ending Institutional Care in Africa: Questions & Answers

Transform Alliance Africa, 01 Jun 2017

In this Q&A document, organisations that have joined forces to put an end to institutional care in Africa explain why and what they are doing to ensure all children grow up in the love of a family.

Supporting Kinship Caregivers: Examining the Impact of a Title IV-E Waiver Kinship Supports Intervention

Cailin Wheeler and Justin Vollet - Child Welfare Journal, 01 May 2017

This study from the Special Issue on Kinship Care of the Child Welfare Journal examined the impact of a kinship supports intervention implemented in 16 children services agencies in the US.

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Counting Pennies: A review of official development assistance to end violence against children

ChildFund Alliance, Save the Children, SOS Children’s Villages International, World Vision International, and Development Initiatives, 2017

This report is the result of an investigation into the amount of official development assistance (ODA) that is targeted at ending violence against children, either as the main focus or as part of a broader programme.

ABA National Project to Improve Representation for Parents: Investment that Makes Sense

American Bar Association, 2017

This brief from the American Bar Association underscores how "providing parents with quality legal representation in child welfare cases isn’t just the right thing to do. It’s also the smart thing to do."

Developing family-based care: complexities in implementing the UN Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children

Jennifer C. Davidson, Ian Milligan, Neil Quinn, Nigel Cantwell & Susan Elseley - European Journal of Social Work, 18 Nov 2016

This paper draws on the literature and practice examples from around the world to examine the fundamental challenges experienced by States in their efforts to implement the 'suitability principle,' as described in the Guidelines for the Alternative Care for Children.

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“Children in Charge” Imagining systemic reform and redesign in care commissioning for children: A Discussion Paper

Children England, 01 Nov 2016

This paper is an attempt at rethinking the systemic problems facing the funding and commissioning of care services and placements for children in need of care and adoption, across ALL types and specialisms of placement, from kinship care, through foster care, to residential care and adoption.