Guidelines on Children’s Reintegration

Currently, there are millions of children globally who are currently separated from their families or communities of origin. A safe, secure family environment is widely recognized as the optimal environment for the growth of children and family reintegration is what the majority of these children and families want. Despite the importance of family reintegration, there exists limited guidance. These guidelines attempt to fill this gap.

Created by the Inter-agency group on children’s reintegration, these guidelines explore cross-cutting principles of good practice and provide guidance on programme design for work with children, families, schools and communities. Going beyond physical reunification of the child with the family, these guidelines consider the longer-term process of the formation of attachments and support between the reunified family and child. The information here is aimed primarily at child protection programme managers in low and lower-middle income contexts, although policy makers and those working in higher income settings will also find them informative.