This tool was designed to help those seeking to assist Christian faith-based actors involved in long-term residential care programs make the transition from institutional to non-institutional (family and community-based) child welfare programs. It was written to give some insight into what this journey called ‘deinstitutionalisation’ might look like and what steps and processes might be involved. Whilst it contains a brief overview of the technical stages, its main purpose is to guide you through the process of achieving buy-in and is not intended to be a technical deinstitutionalisation manual.

World Without Orphans Roadmap: Foundations for Active Engagement is a result of broadscale collaboration
among global, regional, and national leaders across many faith communities. It is informed by experts
from global organizations that lead the way in identifying best practices for caring for vulnerable families
and children.

A World Without Orphans original animation. Find out more at: www.worldwithoutorphans.org

This is a summary of three major new papers published in the Lancet with the support of Lumos which shed new light on the situation of children living in institutions globally and make important recommendations for donors, governments, civil society and individuals to help ensure every child can grow up in a safe, supportive and loving family and have the best chance in life.

According to UNICEF, nearly 90% of the world’s orphans have at least one living parent who cannot afford to safely care for them. The solution is family-based care.

Produced with KESCA, ‘Myths vs Reality’ highlights some of the key misconceptions associated with voluntourism, including how this could unintentionally support institution-related trafficking.

This paper brings together data, evaluations and practical experiences generated over the course of the pandemic to determine the impact of COVID-19 on cash transfers.

This case story is meant to illustrate transition, the actors involved, the challenges and the success factors; recognizing that each transition is an individual process with different starting points, different dynamics and different evolutions.

The story of Identity Mission tells how a program focused on supporting vulnerable children by providing family-based care solutions alongside the local church came to be and what the challenges were to creating a mission focused on family. It is the story of one person’s own transition.

Elli Oswald, Executive Director of the Faith to Action Initiative, reconsiders the best ways American churches can serve some of the world’s most vulnerable children and honor them as image bearers of God.

The Council of Europe Action Plan for the Republic of Moldova 2021-2024 is a strategic programming instrument that aims to bring the Republic of Moldova’s legislation, institutions and practice further into line with European standards in the areas of human rights, the rule of law and democracy. The Action Plan is intended to support the country’s efforts to honour its obligations as a Council of Europe member State. The Action Plan aims to support the Republic of Moldova in its efforts to implement the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

This report captures the learning at a two-day conference which brought together practitioners and specialists for a critical examination of the Theology and Practice of Child Protection in Africa in Nairobi on May 23 - 24, 2022.

This report maps the family strengthening and alternative care practices across 14 organisations and provides an overview into a number of elements including nature of care, target, coverage, intervention, the longevity of care, linkage to the child protection system, access to sponsorship provided by the State, challenges in implementing the program, among other aspects.

This short document describes the process of ensuring Kafaalah is considered as a family-based alternative care option within Kenya and the work to promote best practice within the model. It describes the journey of developing a framework and standard operating procedures, beginning with the launch of the Kenyan Guidelines on the Alternative Family Care of Children in 2014. Changing the Way We Care worked with many partners and shares the learning on Kafaalah through this document. Changing the Way We Care is a global initiative implemented by Catholic Relief Services, Maestral International, and other global, national and local partners working together to change the way we care for children around the world.

Această instruire a fost concepută pentru asistenții sociali din Moldova care lucrează cu asistenții parentali profesioniști care au în plasament copii și adolescenți neînsoțiți și separați, veniți aici din cauza crizei din Ucraina.

This training has been designed for social workers in Moldova who are working with foster families caring for unaccompanied and separated children and adolescents who have fled the crisis in Ukraine.

This webinar provides nine lessons learnt on care reform from the COVID-19 pandemic with examples from Malawi, Uganda and Kenya.

In 2021 and 2023 Changing the Way We Care (CTWWC) completed a household survey of children and caregivers, in demonstration countries Guatemala, Kenya and Moldova, to understand their experience of CTWWC services, the protective factors in their families, and the status of child well-being. Part of CTWWC’s evaluations, the resulting findings are designed to help CTWWC and other care reform actors to understand the successes and challenges of reintegration from residential care and the provision of family strengthening support. 

This report contains the complete Kenya and Guatemala Household Survey results.

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

The Trainers Package is primarily for Government of Rwanda Child Protection and Welfare Officers, representatives of the NCPD and others who work directly with children and families on reintegration of children, including children with disabilities, from residential institutions to family care. It can also provide useful information to people working in other local government roles, for example District Disability Mainstreaming Officers and Gender &
Family Promotion Officers, as well as people working in non-governmental organizations (NGOs) or community based systems (for example, Inshuti z’Umuryango - Friends of the Family) who support children and families, and particularly those who have contact with children during the reintegration process.

This is a Training Module for the Inshuti z’Umuryango volunteer community-based cadre to support the implementation of the Tubarerere Mu Muryango (TMM) Programme (‘Let’s raise children in families’) led by the National Child Development Agency (NCD).

This present report describes the childcare reform process in Rwanda during 2020 and 2021, against the background of the overall reform initiated since 2012

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) produces an extensive range of publications and e-products on a variety of human rights-related subjects. This broad portfolio provides information of interest to governments, national institutions, civil society, academia, the general public and the media, among other stakeholders. OHCHR publications and e-products aim to increase knowledge and raise awareness about human rights and fundamental freedoms, and to publicize ways of promoting and protecting them worldwide. They also seek to encourage debate on topical human rights issues under discussion at the United Nations.

The Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Learning Platform hosted a webinar on June 22, 2022, featuring speakers from UNICEF's head office and the Better Care Network who provided detailed examples on the importance of data in Uganda's care reform processes. This purpose of this webinar was to examine the importance of using data to inform care reform, and how data can be collected and used effectively.

Adopcja międzynarodowa nie powinna być realizowana w trakcie lub bezpośrednio po sytuacji kryzysowej. Pozostając w zgodzie z decyzją rządu Ukrainy o zawieszeniu adopcji międzynarodowych, wzywamy państwa przyjmujące, organy międzynarodowe i organizacje humanitarne do przyjęcia zharmonizowanego podejścia i wprowadzenia moratorium na przysposobienie międzynarodowe dzieci z Ukrainy. Zgodnie z powszechnie przyjętą zasadą dotyczącą obowiązków państw wynikających z prawa międzynarodowego, w sytuacjach kryzysowych, takich jak konflikt zbrojny, adopcja nie jest właściwym działaniem wobec dzieci pozbawionych opieki. Dzieci, które zostały rozdzielone z rodzicami w trakcie kryzysu humanitarnego, nie można uznać za osierocone. Do czasu ustalenia, co się stało z jego rodzicami lub innymi bliskimi krewnymi, każde dziecko rozdzielone z opiekunami należy traktować jako posiadające żyjących krewnych bądź opiekunów prawnych, a co za tym idzie – niepotrzebujące adopcji.

Міждержавне усиновлення не слід починати під час або відразу після надзвичайної ситуації. Відповідно до призупинення українським урядом міждержавного усиновлення ми закликаємо держави прийому, міжнародні організації й гуманітарні установи застосувати гармонізований підхід і закликати до мораторію на міждержавне усиновлення дітей із України.

This resource is designed to help professionals and carers understand the latest neuroscience research on childhood abuse and neglect, with insights and advice from clinicians, teachers, and social workers on how to put your learning into practice.

This guide aims to share some of the latest research findings with those who are working every day to support children who have experienced complex trauma in the form of maltreatment.

This report presents key steps that the international community has taken to protect children in situations of armed conflict, with a specific focus on the Security Council-mandated Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism (MRM) to document grave violations against children and to foster accountability by identifying perpetrators.

Since the onset of the war in Ukraine, a number of people fleeing from Ukraine to neighbouring countries has been observed. This report presents findings based on cumulative and daily registrations, by the General Inspectorate for Border Police (GIBP), since 24 February 2022 onwards, of movement flows of Ukrainian refugees and third-country nationals (TCNs) entering from Ukraine to the Republic of Moldova from all Border Crossing Points (BCPs) and exiting the country from all BCPs, towards Romania and towards Ukraine, as well as via flights. In addition, it presents data on those who entered since 24 February and are still present in the country.

This webinar focused on the themes and recommendations of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child’s Day of General Discussion (DGD) about the rights of children and young people in alternative care and the implications for children and adolescents in Scotland.

This study explores the state of kinship care in British Columbia (BC), Canada 10 years after the implementation of major policy reform designed by the provincial government to improve services to kinship caregivers.

There is evidence that children in residential care institutions (RCI) have higher rates of psychological problems, suicide and criminal behaviour. There is only one study in Sri Lanka which has examined the psychological well-being of children in RCIs. This study aims to provide further evidence to formulate policies related to the mental health of institutionalized children in the local context.

Child welfare and juvenile justice placed youths show high levels of psychosocial burden and high rates of mental disorders. It remains unclear how mental disorders develop into adulthood in these populations. The aim of this study, based on adolescents in Swiss residential care, was to present the rates of mental disorders in adolescence and adulthood in child welfare and juvenile justice samples and to examine their mental health trajectories from adolescence into adulthood.

The purpose of this study was to ascertain the traumatic experiences endured by children in institutional care in Kiambu County, Kenya. The target population for this study was all children in 50 registered institutions of care within Kiambu County aged between 11 and 17 years.

This pilot study investigated a sample of caseworkers’ perceptions as related to social services for improving family unity post-reunification, as well as barriers that exist for families accessing social services in rural southeast Georgia in the US.

The main goal of this exploratory and descriptive study is to understand the perceptions of Portuguese child protection professionals concerning Family foster care. 101 participants, from different professional backgrounds and child protection contexts, filled out a questionnaire. Main findings show a heterogeneous degree of familiarity to FFC, and a generally positive although reserved attitude to it.

This study investigated the prevalence of and factors associated with complete mental health (CMH) among a nationally representative sample of Canadians who had contact with child welfare services before age 16.

This paper presents findings from a study on care leavers’ experiences of transitional housing at three institutions in Zimbabwe. Using the social sustainability conceptual framework, the study found that transitional housing offers continuity of care, relationships, and a smoother, gradual transition from care to independence.

With the rapid economic development in China, large numbers of migrants are moving to metropolitan areas in search of better jobs. They are faced with the dilemma of whether to leave their children behind in the countryside due to various socioeconomic factors. The aim of the study was to analyze the impact of different migration arrangements on child welfare.

In China, the figure for left-behind children (LBC) of migrants stood at 68. 77 million in 2015. Despite being seen as a whole in the last few decades, LBC today differ broadly in parental migrating status. This study focused on LBC with both parents migrating (BLBC), LBC with only mothers migrating (MLBC), LBC with only fathers migrating (FLBC), and previous LBC with one or both parents migrating (PLBC), separately. The authors explored the extent to which LBC were being affected by each migrant parent on both mental health and risk behaviors.

Children placed in residential care are significantly over-represented in youth justice systems. Drawing on interviews and focus groups with service providers, this exploratory study examines practice factors that impact on the criminalization of this group of children across multiple services and systems, including in the residential care environment, police, lawyers, courts and youth justice systems, as well as multi-systems practice with this group in one Australian state.

This study analyzes the influence of school, family and society on the psychological development of left-behind children in China from the perspective of the factors that affect their psychological problems.

Institutional childcare is associated with developmental delays and setbacks. Since alternative options are not always available, it is important to investigate youth in institutional settings to evaluate how to provide optimal care.

El presente documento pretende presentar una estrategia integral que involucre cuidadosamente al sector basado en la fe de Guatemala, con el objetivo de apoyar y promover el cambio en la forma en que el cuidado de los NNA es proporcionado por estos actores importantes y alineado con la visión de CTWWC. La estrategia está dirigida a quienes trabajen en la promoción de la transformación de servicios y el derecho a vivir en familia, y su trabajo está directamente relacionado con organizaciones basadas en  la fe, es decir, directores de hogares de abrigo y protección, Obispos, sacerdotes, pastores, líderes religiosos y laicos comprometidos con el desarrollo humano integral de los NNA.

Removal from family of origin to state care can be a highly challenging childhood experience and is itself linked to an array of unfavourable outcomes in adult life. This systematic review which included Canada, the US, western Europe, and Australia, aimed to synthetise evidence on the risk of adult mortality in people with a history of state care in early life, and assess the association according to different contexts.