This webinar will provide an overview of child protection system strengthening and the linkages between this approach and care reform.  It will outline the ten components of a system strengthening approach to care reform and provide three examples of putting these components into practice. The examples will be presented by UNICEF country office staff, government agencies and their partners. They will focus on the development of the national care form strategy in Kenya, workforce strengthening for care reform in Rwanda, and care system assessment in Uganda.  

This Changing the Way We Care virtual study tour aims to provide an overview of care reform in Kenya from the comfort of your own home. Care reform relates to the care of children. It refers to efforts to improve the legal and policy frameworks, structures, services, supports and resources that determine and deliver alternative care, prevent family separation and support families to care for children well.

This framework was developed to guide the process of taking in vulnerable children by families, whether they are related to the specific families or not and bringing them up the same way they bring up their biological children.

This paper examines the nature and benefits of foster care and identifies some of the key challenges associated with this form of care in Eastern and Southern Africa. It outlines the elements of an enabling environment needed for successful large-scale foster care programmes, including legislation, guidance, changes to social norms, coordination mechanisms, and a strong social service workforce. The paper also provides lessons learnt from the region on how to support each stage of the foster care process.

7.5 million children all over the world live in charitable children’s institutions, commonly known as children’s homes or orphanages, yet 80 per cent to 90 per cent of these children have a living parent or known relatives. In Kenya, an estimated 45,000 children live in charitable children’s institutions for various reasons such as the loss of a parent or primary caregiver, poverty at home, sickness and disability, violence, abuse, and neglect.

When parents pass away, grandparents often assume the role of caregivers. Being thrust back into parenthood during a time of immense grief, and with a two-generation gap to bridge, introduces a range of challenges grandparents must overcome. This video look at the learning of practitioners from Upendo Village in Kenya in supporting grandparents caring for grandchildren after their own children have passed away from HIV/AIDs.

This Handbook is a summarized, simplified version of the Case Worker’s Guidebook for Case Management for Reintegration of Children/Young Adults into Family- or Community-Based Care. It provides an overview of the principles and practices of case management for reunification and placement of children/young adults outside of parental care (e.g., street-connected children/young adults or from Charitable Children’s Institutions and Statutory Children’s Institutions) into family- and community-based care, up until sustainable reintegration is achieved. The Handbook aims to provide an easy and quick reference to critical information and “how to” about case management for reintegration.

This practical guidance is for anyone working with children at risk of entering, already living in, preparing or having already left care. It discusses why and how to support children who are at risk of or who have already experienced adverse experiences that might lead to distress or trauma.

This report describes the process used for designing and facilitating focus group discussions with children and young adults, that informed the household survey design.

This study examined patterns of sexual violence against adults and children in Kenya during the COVID-19 pandemic to inform sexual violence prevention, protection, and response efforts.