Better Care Network is committed to supporting children’s care reform through its Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) Regional Initiative on Children without Appropriate Family Care. Since 2013, BCN has been collaborating with a number of regional and national organisations and bodies to support family strengthening and improved alternative care. BCN is currently working through its Regional Initiative to support building the evidence base, share knowledge and information, and increase national and regional capacity. The Regional Initiative prioritises…

On the 24th September, 2014 Better Care Network and the CPC Learning Network organized a one day symposium entitled "The State of the Evidence on Children’s Care" at McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research, New York University. The symposium topics were clustered around three specific areas of issues related to children’s care:

• Efforts to measure trends in families and children’s care and living arrangements;
• Initiatives to measure the impact of policies and programs to strengthen families and…

ReThink Orphanages is a cross sectoral global coalition. It works with key stakeholders in countries in the global north to shift their support (funding, mission, volunteering and tourism) away from orphanages towards strengthening families in the global south. If you currently fund or send volunteers to orphanages and would like help to divest, please contact us  at contact@bettercarenetwork.org and we will be happy to connect you with one of the many organisations…

As part of BCN’s activities to enhance the research around alternative care issues, in 2009 BCN launched the BCN Working Paper Series. Working in partnership with BCN Advisory Group members and partners, the series includes working papers analyzing key issues around alternative care and enhanced child protection. The purpose of the series is to enhance the body of alternative care literature and tools and to stimulate policy debate and further research.

On 30 November – 3 December 2009, Better Care Network, partnered with BCN Steering Committee members Save the Children and UNICEF, to hold a high-level conference on children without adequate parental care at Wilton Park conference centre in the UK. The conference brought together leaders from Government, bi-lateral donors, international agencies, private foundations, and academia to explore challenges and opportunities in protecting these children. The Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children, together with the UNCRC, provide a clear framework for action to support families to care…

In September 2009, BCN partnered with ANPPCAN, UNICEF, Feed the Children, Department of Children's Services, Kenya, SOS Children's Villages, Compassion International, Give a Child a Family, USAID, and Lakarmissionen to hold the First International Conference in Africa on Family-Based Care for Children in Nairobi, Kenya. The conference was attended by over 450 participants from approximately 30 African countries. Representatives from government ministries and parliament; donors; non-governmental organizations; faith-based organizations; community-based organizations; and international…

Save the Children, the Better Care Network and UNICEF, in collaboration with key regional stakeholders, hosted a Conference on Family Strengthening and Alternative Care in Sub-Saharan Francophone Africa. The Conference took place May 10 and 11, 2012 in Dakar, Senegal and was the first meeting of its kind in Sub-Saharan Francophone and Lusophone Africa providing an occasion for the high-level launching of the Guidelines on Alternative Care of Children to a Francophone and Lusophone audience.  The conference hosted 128 delegates from 17 African countries. …

The Better Care Network collborated with a group of leading international and national Non-Governmental Organizations, as part of an Inter-Agency Child Protection Group, to ensure that the framework that will replace the current Millennium Development Goals in 2015 place children’s care and protection at the top of that critical agenda. A series of Inter-agency papers were produced under the leadership of Family For Every Child on the links between child…

Launch of the Handbook for the Implementation of the 'Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children' in New York    The launch of the handbook Moving Forward: Implementing the Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children at UNICEF House in New York on the 11th April 2013 marked a milestone in the affirmation of children's rights. Hosted by the…