Child Care and Protection System Reforms

Social welfare sector reform is increasingly common, particularly in transitional countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Increasing attention has been paid to the development of preventive community based child and family welfare programs that would, in coordination with health and education programs and social assistance, provide a range of support for vulnerable families.

Recognition of the damaging effects of institutional care on children and its high cost has influenced governments to redirect resources towards alternative family and community-based care practices such as kinship care, fostering, and adoption. Redirecting resources in the context of social welfare reforms requires a commitment from governments to provide adequate financing for effective policy implementation.

Funding availability raises a variety of issues regarding the level and type of support to be provided, the private or public management of services, and the entitlement process. Social welfare should protect the rights of children and their caretakers via fair and clear criteria of support provisions, with transparent procedures for the effective allocation of services.

Social welfare reforms to protect and support children and families need to be built on legal protections and child care policies which reflect the same child centred goals. Alternative forms of community based care, combined with social reintegration programmes and family support services, must be developed to reduce the use of institutions and enable children leaving institutions to rejoin their communities.

The resources in this section focus on country initiatives in reforming their social welfare sector to finance community based care developments.

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Transitioning From Institutional Care of Orphans to Community-Based Care: The Experience of Ethiopia's Jerusalem Association Children's Homes

Mulugeta Gebru and Rebecca Atnafou, 2001

An account of Jerusalem Association Children’s Homes’ work involving deinstitutionalization of orphaned children in Ethiopia. The report is a summary of the steps taken by this organization to reunify/reintegrate the children into their families and society and some next steps are also mentioned.

A Framework For Responding to Vulnerable Children

Sarah Wise, 2001

Discusses the value of the UK Children in Need assessment framework for use by Victorian Family Services (Australia).

China Country Report

Ministry of Civil Affairs, People’s Republic of China, 2001

Country report of China on the situation of children in residential care in anticipation of the Second International Conference on Children and Residential Care: New Strategies for a New Millennium, to be held in Stockholm 12 – 15 May 2003.

Child Welfare Reform in Romania: Abandonment and De-Institutionalization, 1987 - 2000

K. Fern Greenwell, 2001

The purpose of this report is to document the levels of child abandonment and de-institutionalization as an indicator of the quality of social transformation during the transition decade (1990-2000).

Foundations: Child and Adolescent Development: Resource Pack

Action for the Rights of Children, 2001

Resource pack for a course in child and adolescent development. Emphasis on identifying threats to childhood development and strategies to promote development in adverse conditions. Includes facilitators notes, participatory exercises, overheads, and handouts.

The Problem of Street Children in Africa: An Ignored Tragedy

Peter Kopoka, 2000

Examines initiatives taken to protect street children in Africa. Emphasis on increasing community and NGO participation in local responses.

Moving from Residential Institutions to Community-Based Social Services in Central and Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union

David Tobis, 2000

A paper describing a study that reviewed the role of institutional care in Albania, Armenia, Latvia, Lithuiania and Romania, where the World Bank worked to develop community based care social services and move away from large residential institutions that according to the paper have deleterious affects on the nations and on the people who live in them. Particularly, the study focuses on the use of residential institutions by children, people with disabilities and the frail and isolated elderly.

Children in Residential Care: Prevention & Social Policy Strategy: The Uganda Experience

Sayyid Bukenya, 1999

A summary of Ugandan child care and protection policies that have sought to de-institutionalize care, provide family tracing and re-unification, and improve community care.

Roofs and Roots. The Care of Separated Children in the Developing World

David Tolfree , 17 Feb 1995

Save the Children’s research and analysis of residential care services and the need for alternative non-institutional approaches for children separated from their families. This book examines policy and practices from work in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Eastern and Central Europe.

A Case Study of Legal Reform in Uganda: As Part of a Strategy for Promoting Community-Based Care

John Parry-Williams , 1993

This paper describes a case study examining the legal reforms made in Uganda in the area of community-based care.