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Research strongly suggests that children are best served by care that is as safe, nurturing and as close to family as is feasible for the given situation. Many care organizations that have long served children in large scale residential settings desire to shift decisively toward family-based solutions. However, transitioning from residential care to family-based care can be difficult, even intimidating. The organizations profiled in these case studies have pioneered effective transitions from residential to family-based care. For these studies, they have generously shared from their…
This video features a segment of a talk on the effects of care environments on children, hosted by the Christian Alliance for Orphans. The key speakers featured include Dr. Kathryn Whetten & Dr. Charles Nelson, who discuss the Positive Outcomes for Orphans study (POFO) and the Bucharest Early Intervention Project (BEIP), respectively.
Dr. Nelson speaks about the institutionalization of children and its impact on the brain development of institutionalized children. Many children in institutions, says Dr. Nelson, experience isolation, a lack of response to distress, a…
Retrak is a faith-based non-governmental organisation working with orphans and vulnerable children in Ethiopia and other countries. Retrak uses the contents of key international legal frameworks such as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC) to help inform their work with children. Utilising the International Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children as a guiding framework as well as the growing body of evidence showing negative effects of institutional care on children’s development…
This assessment conducted by FHI 360, with support from Ethiopia's Ministry of Women, Youth and Children Affairs (MoWYCA) and the OAK Foundation aimed to generate evidence about formal community and family- based alternative child care services and service providing agencies in Ethiopia, with a particular focus on magnitude, quality and quality-assurance mechanisms. The assessment was conducted in five selected regions (Addis Ababa; Afar; Amhara; Oromia; and Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region…
Permanency for Children: The Development of the BCS Global Foster-to-Adopt Pilot Project in Ethiopia
This report provides initial documentation of a pilot program launched by Bethany Christian Services in 2009 in Ethiopia. An estimated 5 million Ethiopian children (0-17) were identified as having lost one or both parents, as a result of HIV and AIDS, other diseases such as TB and malaria, extreme poverty and famine and migration (2005). This situation has left families financially stretched beyond their limits in providing the traditional model of orphan support and has resulted in increased reliance on institutional care. In order to address this situation the Bethany Christian…
Factors underlying the vulnerability of children and lack of appropriate parental care include HIV and AIDS, natural disasters, internal migration, and chronic poverty. These factors have been documented as the main reasons children lack parental care on a global level and, more specifically, on the African continent. The same paradigm may be applied to the situation in Ethiopia. With approximately five million orphaned and vulnerable children, the need for alternative care options for vulnerable children is growing. The increase in the number of children requiring…
This paper, which was presented at a workshop organized by the Network for Orphaned and Vulnerable Children, discusses the experience of Jerusalem Association Children’s Homes (JACH) on de-institutionalization. This paper also discusses the process of reunification and reintegration through various strategies and activities designed and implemented by JACH.
Having accumulated experience and expertise, JACH has gradually decreased the number of children in the institutions and has made a strategic shift to community-based childcare projects. JACH has initiated such projects in…
Jerusalem Association Children’s Homes was founded in 1985 as an indigenous NGO in response to the needs of Ethiopian children who were orphaned by civil war, drought, and the resulting famine of 1984. JACH established four residential institutions for children during the height of the orphan emergency in the 1980s.
In 1996, JACH made the decision to transition from institutionalized child care to community-based care. Guided by a six-year strategic plan for the transition, JACH has shifted its focus to promoting child-focused, sustainable development in communities near…
This report is prepared for a workshop which was held on March 27-29, 2001 in Kigali, hosted by the Ministry of Local Government and Social Affairs of the Republic of Rwanda. The objective of the workshop was to seek appropriate polices on the care and support of orphans and vulnerable children.
The Displaced Children and Orphan Fund, an office of USAID fully sponsored the trip to Rwanda, in order to share the experiences of Ethiopia in caring for Orphan and Vulnerable Children (OVC) during the last two decades. The International Rescue Committee of the Rwandan Program, facilitated the…