Standards of Care

Standards of care are approved criteria for measuring and monitoring the management, provision and quality of child care services and their outcomes. Such standards are required for all child care provision, including day care, kinship, foster and institutional care.

Standards should be concrete and observable sets of indicators which describe what good practice means in terms of outcomes for the child, how a service should be delivered, and the actions required by staff. They should be guided by the rights and best interests of the child, the preservation of the family, and the promotion of the child’s development.

Standards of care should be in line with national child care and protection policies, and reflect international standards for children’s rights. The development, monitoring and evaluation of standards should be participatory, and reflect the views of children and families who are using the services.

Standards should give indicators relating to all aspects of child care from the child’s physical and emotional well-being to staff and organisational procedures. This includes the child’s diet, access to health and education, and play and recreational facilities. Standards should outline the methods of care and control, and ensure that services are accessible and promote the child’s health. Standards should specify the rights of children to privacy, informed choices, dignity and respect. Standards relating to staff should include recruitment and selection procedures, regular supervision, support, and training. Procedural standards include the maintenance of records, respect for confidentiality, and accountability mechanisms.

The literature in this section focuses on examples of organisational standards for child care provision.

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Supporting Family and Community Strengthening to Prevent Child Abandonment

SOS Children's Villages - Bolivia, 2008

Provides analysis on the implementation and outcomes of child abandonment prevention and orphan care programming in Bolivia.

Assessment of Capacity to Manage Alternative Care in South Africa - DRAFT

Andrew Dunn, 14 Dec 2007

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

Assessment of Capacity to Manage Alternative Care in Zambia - DRAFT

Andrew Dunn, 14 Dec 2007

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

Development of Integrated Social Care Services for Vulnerable Families and Children at Risk in Moldova

Arkadi Toritsyn, 01 Nov 2007

Project Evaluation Report for UNICEF Moldova

The Draft United Nation Guidelines on the Alternative Care of Children: An Ethical Framework on the Path to Adoption as a Protection Measure

Christina Baglietto, International Social Service, 07 Oct 2007

Discusses adoption as a child protection mechanism in the context of the Draft UN Guidelines on Alternative Care

Human Rights in Liberia’s Orphanages

UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), 01 Mar 2007

The aim of this report is to review international human rights norms as well as Liberian legislation, and to assess the compliance of orphanages with those standards.

Someone that Matters: The Quality of Care in Childcare Institutions in Indonesia

Florence Martin and Tata Sudrajat, Save the Children, Indonesia Ministry of Social Affairs, UNICEF, 07 Jan 2007

Comprehensive evaluation of national responses and level of care standards for children without parental care in Indonesia.

An Assessment of Intercountry Adoption Laws, Policies and Practices in Liberia

UNICEF and Holt International, 2007

This report presents the findings of an assessment conducted between 8 July and 22 August 2006 that gathered and analyzed information on inter-country adoption to support strengthening Liberia’s adoption laws and develop operating guidelines for adoption agencies.

No Place Like Home: A Research Study of the Operations, Management, and Care Offered by Residential Facilities for Orphaned and Vulnerable Children

Built Environment Support Group, BESG, 2007

A study of the management, operations, and care offered by institutions for AIDS orphans in South Africa. It compares the findings of registered and unregistered institutions.

Guide for Interpreting and Applying National Quality Standards for the Protection, Care and Support of Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children in Uganda

Uganda Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, 2007

The purpose of the quality standards tools, namely the framework of national standards and the OVC quality standards guide, is to provide a structure and methodology for the development and application of relevant standards for the comprehensive, integrated protection, care and support of OVC at all levels in Uganda.