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There is a growing global consensus that isolated efforts to improve individual institutions will not solve the problems of children in residential care, or meet their best interests. Family-based care alternatives, namely kinship care and foster care, therefore need to be actively promoted and strengthened in Ghana so that children are only ever in residential care as a temporary last resort.
This document is aimed at complementing the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for…
In the 2006 Care Reform Initiative (CRI), Ghana’s Department of Social Welfare (DSW) called for the deinstitutionalization of Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) and sought to move vulnerable children towards a range of integrated family and community-based care services. The initiative is currently on its third five-year road map for 2017 to 2021 with specific targets and yet still children are in orphanages. Over a decade after the official launch of the initiative a myriad of challenges persist, especially the uncertainty over whether families are prepared to welcome OVC into their homes…
Both scripture and science affirm: children grow best in healthy families. For vulnerable children and at-risk families, a wide range of family support and care options together contribute to a full “continuum of care” that meets the unique needs of each child and maximizes opportunities for children to grow up in nurturing families. The Christian Alliance for Orphans has offered this challenge grant opportunity to spark innovation as child-serving organizations create or expand effective family care solutions for children. A total of $50,000 was awarded in grants of $5,000 to $10,000 to…
Abstract
The U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) stipulates children are entitled to “a family environment…of happiness, love and understanding”. Recent work on deinstitutionalization of children from residential care has found important child wellbeing differences, particularly around hope. Using data from Ghana—a country that has initiated reintegration of children from residential care facilities, therefore providing a natural opportunity for comparative research—we used hope, whether the child has been reunified with family/…
In 2017, MEASURE Evaluation worked with a country core team (CCT) in Ghana, led by the Department of Social Welfare (DSW) of the MOGCSP, to engage government partners and other stakeholders to design, plan, and conduct a participatory self-assessment of the national alternative care system that will support the government and its partners in continuing to advance alternative care.
The assessment framework, finalized with input from USAID headquarters, USAID field offices, and 23 stakeholder interviews in Ghana, covered nine areas of alternative care: (1) prevention of unnecessary…
This video, presented by Better Care Network and UNICEF, highlights the increased risk of family separation faced by children with special needs and advocates for the provision of quality family-based care to children who cannot be with their parents or extended families. The video gives an inside look at an assisted family setting in Ghana where children with disabilities live with their foster mothers. The video features interviews with the foster mothers, who describe the care and affection they provide to the children, as well as an interview with Iddris Abdallah, …
This video is presented by Better Care Network and UNICEF. It tells the story of Maureen, a young girl in Kenya who was separated from her family and sent to live in a children's home. In the video, Maureen expresses her desire to reunite with her grandparents and asks "why do I live in a children's home?" It also features interviews with experts, including those who have lived in children's homes, explaining some of the negative impacts of institutionalization. Children who live in institutions often lack the individual care, affection, and attachment that a family environment offers.…
The Better Care Network (BCN) and UNICEF, supported by the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)/ US Agency for International Development (USAID), commissioned Maestral International LLC to document significant child-care reform work being carried out at country level in three African countries, to promote information exchange and learning within the region, and reinforce and encourage care reform in other countries. These reforms involve legislation, policies and programmes, including service delivery, advocacy and networking. The three countries reviewed for the country…
In 2006, the Ghanaian government, in partnership with UNICEF, began to reform the child welfare system. The main aim of this reform was to provide a sustainable and culturally appropriate system of care for children without parental care by shifting from an institutional-based model to a family- and community-based one. Drawing on existing peer-reviewed and grey literature, this article provides an overview of the major components of the reform, including reintegration with the extended family, foster care and adoption. In addition, the article discusses the prospects and challenges involved…