In 2011, SOS Children’s Villages International developed an assessment tool to measure a state’s implementation of the UN Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children. This tool was used as a basis for conducting research by countries participating in the SOS Children’s Villages global advocacy campaign: Care for ME! Quality Care for Every Child. Country snapshots on the alternative care system and compliance with the Guidelines have been produced for Armenia, Columbia, Croatia, Lithuania, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay.
Using the assessment tool, these snapshots include statistical data reporting of the geographical distribution and prevalence of formal care institutions and number of children in these facilities, and of family strengthening services or daycare centers. States’ deinstitutionalization strategies and alternative care processes were analyzed, legislative and regulatory gaps related to childcare and protection were identified.
Recommendations for each country were suggested, many of which referred to the need to establish a coherent policy framework based on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the UN Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children, and work with a multidisciplinary team that includes civil societies, social service providers, child protective professionals, children and youth in care facilities, and governmental bodies for the effective implementation of the Guidelines and related care services.
Although the assessment tool was proposed as a multifaceted diagnostic instrument, it was recognized at the outset that many states would not have sufficient data available to answer all the questions contained in the assessment and that no single state will have implemented all the provisions for family support and alternative care as laid out in the UN Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children. SOS Children’s Villages national associations were therefore asked to complete as much of the tool as possible, given the available data in their country. The three main steps for completing the assessment were:
- Desk research of existing secondary and meta data from state, non-state, and international sources
- Interviews with key service providers, service users, and management
- Compilation of the final report