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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Country Care Review: Australia

Better Care Network, 01 Nov 2019

This country care review includes the care related Concluding Observations adopted by the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Committee on the Rights of the Child.

2019 Edition of the Minimum Standards for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action

The Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action, 30 Oct 2019

The Minimum Standards for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action (CPMS), originally launched in 2012, set out a common agreement on what needs to be achieved in order for child protection in humanitarian settings to be of adequate quality. Years of implementing the CPMS in diverse settings revealed the need for a more user-friendly version of the Standards that would reflect recent sector learning and evidence; improve guidance on prevention, gender and age inclusion, and other cross-cutting themes; and promote applicability to a broader range of humanitarian contexts. Therefore, the Standards were updated in 2019 through a two-year revision process.

Country Care Review: El Salvador

Better Care Network, 01 Oct 2019

This country care review includes the care related Concluding Observations adopted by the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities as part of its examination of El Salvador's initial reports, as well as other care-related concluding observations, ratification dates, and links to the Universal Periodic Review and Hague Intercountry Adoption Country Profile.

Standard 2 - Multidisciplinary & Interagency Collaboration: Interagency Agreement Template and Guidance

Olivia Lind Haldorsson - Council of the Baltic Sea States Secretariat and Child Circle, 01 Oct 2019

This document offers inspiration and guidance for drafting an interagency agreement which formalises multidisciplinary and interagency (MDIA) team collaboration between agencies involved in Barnahus (a child-friendly, interdisciplinary and multi-agency centre for child victims and witnesses where children could be interviewed and medically examined for forensic purposes, comprehensively assessed and receive all relevant therapeutic services from appropriate professionals).

Country Care Review: Kuwait

Better Care Network, 20 Sep 2019

This country care review includes the Concluding Observations for the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities adopted as part of their examinations of Kuwait’s periodic reports.

Country Care Review: India

Better Care Network, 20 Sep 2019

Case Management Minimum Indicators

The Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action Case Management Task Force, 23 Aug 2019

These Case Management Minimum Indicators provide measurable benchmarks to assess the quality of case management in humanitarian crises.

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Minimum Standards for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action (CPMS) E-course

Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action, 31 Jul 2019

This training is designed to increase participants' knowledge of the Minimum Standards for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action (CPMS).

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Country Care Review: Malta

Better Care Network , 26 Jun 2019

This country care review includes the care related Concluding Observations adopted by the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Approaches to realising the rights of young people leaving out of home care

Emily Munro - Leaving Care and the Transition to Adulthood, 25 Apr 2019

This chapter from the book Leaving Care and the Transition to Adulthood explores progress towards realizing the rights of young people in and leaving out of home care in Australia, Sweden and the UK.

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