This article examines how recent war in Iran has disrupted and reshaped the country’s child welfare system, forcing authorities to rethink long-standing institutional approaches to caring for orphaned and abandoned children. As violence threatened hospitals and orphanages, the state welfare system began rapidly placing infants and vulnerable children into private homes, including with foster families and single women, marking a significant shift toward more family-based care arrangements. Through personal stories of temporary caregivers and child welfare workers, the piece explores both the emotional impact of these emergency placements and the broader policy changes they have accelerated, including expanded foster care eligibility and reduced barriers to temporary guardianship.