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.

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Save the Children,

This Kinship Care Album was produced as part of a regional participatory research initiative undertaken by Save the Children to build knowledge on endogenous care practices within families and communities, especially informal kinship care. The Album is a compilation of documentation by children who participated in the research, including resource maps, body maps, photos of focus group discussions and observations by child researchers, pictures and letters from children highlighting their experiences of living in kinship care, their views and recommendations about life in kinship care.

Zero to Three and the National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families,

Zero to Three, a US based non profit organization working to inform, train and support professionals, policy makers and parents to improve the lives of infants and toddlers, combined the evidence from research on early childhood development with feedback from focus groups with families, friends, and neighbors who act as care givers to develop a range of practical resources to strengthen care practices with children between the ages of 0 and 3.

Tapologo Maundeni & Tumani Malinga‐Musamba - Child & Family Social Work,

This paper paves the way to ensuring that challenges faced by informal caregivers are addressed in a manner that will make them more supportive to orphans.

Jini Roby for UNICEF Child Protection Section ,

This paper, 'Children in Informal Care', was produced in response to a knowledge gap on informal care and to help determine the relevance and applicability of the 2009 Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children to informal alternative care. The authors asked the questions “what constitutes ‘informal care’?”, “what forms of informal care are there?”, “who needs informal care?”, and “can they be clearly defined?”

RELAF and SOS Children’s Villages International,

This paper is based on The Latin American Report: The situation of children in Latin America without parental care or at risk of losing it. Contexts, causes and responses, which was prepared using reports from 13 countries in the region. The paper gives an overview of the state of one of the most fundamental rights - the right to parental care, a keystone for the right to live in a family and a community.

UNICEF,

This report, prepared for UNICEF East and Southern Africa Regional Office (ESARO) assesses the capacity in Malawi, South Africa, Swaziland and Zambia to manage alternative care systems for children.

Child Trends,

Explores the disparity in support given to children in formal foster care in the United States compared to those in informal kin arrangements

Lacey Andrews Gale,

Examines the challenges posed in monitoring and ensuring child protection in informal and formal fostering in post-conflict areas.

Andrew Dunn & John Parry-Williams,

This report, prepared for UNICEF East and Southern Africa Regional Office (ESARO) assesses capacity of Malawi, South Africa, Swaziland and Zambia to manage alternative care systems for children. 

Andrew Dunn,

Country level evaluation of contributing factors to the establishment of an alternative care system.