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In this video, Tamara Mwale of Alliance for Children Everywhere (ACE) Zambia shares a story of reintegration. At ACE, whenever possible, the team seeks to reintegrate children with biological family. They create a customized plan to ensure a safe and healthy reintegration process with systemic support to prevent future disruption.
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This article delves into the challenges faced by orphans in Nigeria, specifically focusing on their psychological development and overall welfare. In 2003, there were an estimated 7 million orphans in the country, a number projected to rise to 8.2 million by 2010. This increase underscores the significant challenges posed by factors such as HIV/AIDS, conflict, and poverty.
Globally, the orphan crisis is alarming, with predictions suggesting that by 2020, as many as 200 million children worldwide could be without parental care. The study emphasizes the importance of offering childcare…
Kinship care involves children who cannot be cared for by parents being looked after by relatives or friends of the family. In Zimbabwe, around a quarter of all children are estimated to be in kinship care. Regional and global guidance state that kinship care should always be explored as the first option when children are separated from parents. It can offer a safe and caring environment, where children speak their own languages and follow their own traditions. However, without support, kinship care families often face challenges, especially as most kinship carers are elderly grandmothers…
Abstract
Summary
Many young orphans in Zimbabwe grow up in residential care facilities, but according to governmental policies and literature in this field, these children should be transitioned to extended families to ensure optimal development. Thus, semi-structured interviews was conducted with a social worker, two residential care administrators and five extended families; whereas the participating orphans were asked to draw and narrate their lives in RCC and their extended families. This article provides empirically derived insights to the inner experiences of the…
This paper discusses the role of social workers and community volunteers in providing services to foster care children living with HIV in South Africa. A literature review was undertaken of 14 qualitative studies conducted in South Africa from 2012-2022. The review showed the prominent role played by social workers in foster care, despite factors which hindered service such as high caseloads, lack of knowledge on HIV and prioritisation of quantity over quality. Hence, several challenges were faced by foster carers.
The studies also revealed that community volunteers were providing services…
A step-by-step process and approach that enables practitioners (sometimes called “case workers,” “case managers” or “social workers”) to work with families who need support. It includes tools and processes for work with children and families, recognizing all of their strengths and risks. Case management is used with both families at risk of separation and those where children have already separated and are in the process of being reintegrated, including biological family or placed into an alternative family (e.g., foster or kinship). The end goal of case management is that…
The institutionalisation of children has been seen to increase the risk for emotional, developmental, cognitive and attachment disorders later in life. Transitioning out of institutionalised care and integrating into the outside world has been found to be a difficult experience for many care leavers. Some of them are not prepared to face the outside world, feel neglected and lack a support system. Some may experience socio-emotional distress owing to a lack of necessary social skills in life outside the institutions.
The study purposed to assess the psychological wellbeing of adults who…
This handbook is a summarized, user-friendly version of the operating procedures for alternative family- and community-based care options. It provides an overview of each type of care, key considerations, and the process followed for placement. The handbook aims to provide an easy and quick reference to critical information and “how to” about alternative family- and community-based care placements.
The handbook should not be considered a replacement for the detailed Alternative Family- and Community-based Care Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs); rather, it is recommended that the full…
Case management is the process of identifying, assessing, planning, referring, and tracking referrals, and monitoring the delivery of services in a timely, context-sensitive, individualized, and client-centered manner. Case management is used within child welfare and protection programming, and has been shown to improve decision-making and service delivery, to enhance child and family outcomes.
Changing the Way We CareSM (CTWWC) recognizes the importance of using case management as the preferred approach when supporting children to reintegrate from residential care to…
The Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for the Alternative Family-based and Community-based Care of Children in Kenya provide guidance for the comprehensive implementation of the Guidelines for Alternative Family Care for Children in Kenya (2014). The SOPs guide actors to provide high-quality and standardized alternative care services to children separated from their parents (including emergency placements).
The SOPs provide step-by-step practical guidance on:
- Implementing safe and appropriate alternative family and community-based care services, especially when placing…