Non-Formal Mechanisms for Children's Care and Protection

In many countries children without adequate family care are supported within non-formal care arrangements. This typically involves the care of a child by a relative (kinship care), or someone close to the family (informal foster care), without any legal proceedings or regulation by the State. In some cases, children may also live on their own without adult carers within a child-headed household.

Informal care arrangements often build on traditional, cultural practices or religious practices and can provide a safe and caring environment for children close to their families and communities. Some arrangements however, may put children at risk of inadequate care, abuse or exploitation – particularly when caregivers are unrelated (or only distantly related), children are moved far away from their communities, or when a child heads the household. In kinship or informal foster care arrangements children may be treated differently than their caretakers’ own children, denied access to education and health and unfairly burdened with household labour.

Moves to formalize traditional alternative care arrangements have met with debate. While there is a need to monitor children’s care situations to prevent their discrimination and mistreatment - as well as to help caregivers to access support services - there are concerns that placing formal requirements on traditional caretaking practices (such as registration with the authorities) might disrupt or even curtail them.

In many countries efforts are underway to strengthen community-based and traditional practices for protecting vulnerable children. This includes supporting child protection committees and community based structures such as faith based groups, volunteer associations, traditional and religious leaders, and neighbourhood committees, to play an increased role in monitoring and supporting informal care arrangements. This can range from conducting home visits, counselling caregivers or children, encouraging children to attend school, providing life skills instruction and linking children to social assistance (cash transfers, feeding schemes, legal services). Awareness raising efforts can also help to educate communities about children’s rights and reduce discrimination against children in alternative care.

The resources in this section outline non-formal and traditional practices for caring and protecting children without adequate family care, which typically operate outside of the formal care and protection systems at the community level.

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Too Risky Yet Not Risky Enough: The Intersecting Characteristics, Vulnerabilities, Harm Indicators and Guardianship Issues Associated With Seriously Harmed Missing Children

Nicola Fox, Caroline Miles, Réka Solymosi, Eon Kim, Riza Batista-Navarro, 27 Mar 2024

This study examined 18 months of published Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews across England to identify the intersecting characteristics, vulnerabilities, harm types, indicators and issues with formal guardianship (safeguarding by carers, schools, local authorities, police and health professionals). Results revealed that children were missing, vulnerable, harmed and showed indicators of exploitation in numerous and intersecting ways.

Academic Trajectories of Children in Formal and Informal Kinship Care

Tyreasa Washington, C. Joy Stewart, Roderick A. Rose - Child Development, 29 Apr 2021

The aim of this study was to examine the academic trajectories of children in out-of-home care (OOCH) and whether kinship care has a protective effect relative to nonkin foster care.

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‘Private Family Arrangements’ for Children in Ireland: The Informal Grey Space In-Between State Care and the Family Home

Kenneth Burns, Conor O’Mahony, Rebekah Brennan - The British Journal of Social Work, 22 Feb 2021

This article explores evidence which shows that the use of ‘private family arrangements’ is motivated partly by a concern for subsidiarity, and partly by necessity: they provide a source of placements in cases where regulatory requirements and a lack of resources would otherwise make the placement challenging or impossible.

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Child Fosterage in Namibia: the impact of informal care arrangements upon children’s health and welfare

Victoria Sharley, Emma Leonard, Janetta Ananias, Heather Ottaway - Children and Youth Services Review, 24 Aug 2020

This paper reports the findings from a small qualitative study into child fosterage undertaken in Namibia in 2019.

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Creating a better kinship environment for children in Ghana: Lessons from young people with informal kinship care experience

Alhassan Abdullah, Ebenezer Cudjoe, Esmeranda Manful - Child & Family Social Work, 22 Apr 2020

There is little empirical evidence on how to improve the well‐being and safety of children in informal kinship care in Ghana. Thus, this study reports findings from in‐depth interviews with 15 young people, 18 to 23 years, from Banda—an ethnic group where informal kinship care is an accepted cultural practice.

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Parenting into Two Worlds: How Practices of Kinship Fostering Shape Development in Namibia, Southern Africa

Jill Brown, Abril Rangel-Pacheco, Olivia Kennedy, Ndumba Kamwanyah - Parents and Caregivers Across Cultures, 05 Feb 2020

This chapter examines the cultural logic of child care in Africa, focusing on one variation of fosterage, okutekula, among the Ova-ambo in Northern Namibia.

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Reaching unconnected caregivers: Using a text-message education program to better understand how to support informal caregivers role in child development

Sherri C Widen, Marlene Orozco, Eileen Lai Horng, Susanna Loeb - Journal of Early Childhood Research, 11 Dec 2019

The authors of this study conducted a qualitative 2-year study to investigate informal caregivers’ motivations, assets, and needs.

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The Cumulative Effect of Prior Maltreatment on Emotional and Physical Health of Children in Informal Kinship Care

Lee, Eunju; Kramer, Catherine; Choi, Mi Jin; Pestine-Stevens, Althea; Huang, Yufan - Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, 05 Nov 2019

This article explores the extent of previous child welfare involvement and its association with well-being among children in informal kinship care.

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Challenges and Opportunities Experienced by Young Adults Transitioning Out of Informal Kinship-Based Foster Care in Bikita District, Zimbabwe

Charles Dziro - Emerging Adulthood, 28 Aug 2019

This article examines the challenges encountered by, and the opportunities available to, young adults as they transition from informal kinship-based foster care to independent living in the Bikita District of Zimbabwe.

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The effect of the colonialist terms “orphan” and “adoption” on the citizenship status of indigenous Fijian adoptees within their own community

Erica Newman - AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, 26 Nov 2018

This article investigates the colonialist definitions of the terms “orphan” and “adoption”, contrasting them with how the traditional practice of child circulation in Fiji cared for orphaned children.

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