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Alternative care
Millions of children are living without the loving, nurturing care that allows them to be safe and grow up enjoying their childhood. Many children remain in families unable to offer them adequate care because they are too poor and lack adequate support. Other children end up in poor quality alternative care or on the street.
Save the Children recognizes that residential care can be appropriate for a small minority of children and should be available as a last resort for those children with no other options. In those contexts, regulated, safe institutions that meet agreed-upon standards can save children's lives and give them opportunities to learn and develop that they would not otherwise have. However, scientific evidence suggests that institutional care can cause significant harm to children's physical, intellectual and emotional development, with children under the age of three being particularly at risk.
Save the Children supports the development of family-based alternative care options in children's own communities for those children who cannot be with their parents. These options include foster care, kinship care and domestic adoption. The organization supports the transition away from existing institutional care services while at the same time ensuring minimum standards during the remaining time institutions provide care for children.
There is also growing international, regional and country level action towards tackling both care and protection issues via strengthening national child protection systems and reforming the care system within the broader framework.
Photo: Chloe White/Save the Children
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Changing the Paradigm: Save the Children’s Work to Strengthen The Child Protection System in Indonesia
Save the Children’s work on shifting the paradigm of alternative care for children in Indonesia is a work in progress that began in 2005 and will continue until at least 2017. The purpose of this in-depth report is to provide information on Save the Chil
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EveryChild Moldova’s Programme Experience: Improving Children’s Lives Through Deinstitutionalisation
This Programme Review documents the evolution of the EveryChild (EvC) Programme since 1994, presenting the development of interventions to improve the lives of children through deinstitutionalisation and identifying the best practices and lessons that may
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Raising the Standards, Egypt (2011- 2013)
These two documents are a part of the Raising the Standards initiative that was implemented in two care institutions in Greater Cairo, Egypt. The project aimed at piloting the international care standards to promote better care and protection of children
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Consultations with children on their priorities for the post-MDG framework
In late 2012 and early 2013, consultations were held in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi with boys and girls between the ages of 8 and 17 years who were living without parental care. Participating children were living in the following circumstances: 1. those livin
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Implementation of the national strategy and action plan for the reform of the residential childcare system in Moldova 2007-2012: Evaluation report
In July 2007 the Government of Moldova approved a National Strategy and Action Plan to reform its residential childcare system. At the time, 12,000 children were thought to be living in large orphanages and boarding schools in Moldova. Previous studies ha
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“BANA BONSU MBETU” All are our children. Save the Children Kinship Research in West Central Africa- Democratic Republic of Congo
Save the Children is undertaking innovative participative research in West and Central Africa on informal alternative care mechanisms,with a particular focus on kinship care. An estimated 15.8% of children under the age of 15 years in West and Central Afr
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Ending the placement of children under three in institutions: Support nurturing families for all young children. Report from the international ministerial conference, Sofia, 21–22 November 2012
The ministerial conference under the theme ‘Ending the placement of children under three in institutions: Support nurturing families for all young children’, which took place in Sofia Bulgaria, 21 - 22 November 2012, was organized by the Government of t
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Fostering better care: Improving foster care provision around the world
The paper suggests that further efforts are needed to ensure that foster care is an option open to a wider range of children. Foster care leads to better outcomes for children than harmful forms of residential care, and may be a more suitable choice than
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Out from the shadows: Sexual violence against children with disabilities
A report that sheds light on the shocking issue of sexual violence against children with disabilities. All over the world, children with disabilities are suffering from sexual violence at the hands of perpetrators who operate with almost total impunity. A
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Child Protection: Taking action against all forms of abuse, neglect, violence and exploitation (CPI Brochure)
The brochure highlights the priority areas of focus of Save the Children's Child Protection Initiative (CPI), such as (i) children without appropriate care (including neglected and/or abused children in their families, children in institutions or other fo
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Draft Standard Operating Procedures for Supporting Children's Community-based Care Placements
These SOPs provide guidance for Care Placement Caseworkers (Caseworkers) working in displacement sites and quartiers who are involved in a process of community mobilisation around child protection issues. Alliance Materials
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Child Protection Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices in Central and Western Liberia- 2011
This report provides the initial findings of a Child Protection Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices (KAP) Study commissioned by Save the Children (SC) as part of the project “Educating and Protecting Vulnerable Children in Family Settings in Liberia” (201