United Nations Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children

The present Guidelines are intended to enhance the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and of relevant provisions of other international instruments regarding the protection and well-being of children who are deprived of parental care or who are at risk of being so. The Guidelines seek to ensure that, firstly, children do not find themselves in out-of-home care unnecessarily and, secondly, that the type and quality of out-of-home care provided is appropriate to the rights and specific needs of the child concerned.