Towards the Right Care for Children. Orientations for reforming alternative care systems. Africa, Asia, Latin America

Towards the Right Care for Children is the final synthesis report of a study undertaken on behalf of the European Commission (DG DEVCO) by SOS Children's Villages International, with research led by CELCIS (Centre for excellence for looked after children in Scotland).

Its objectives were to map existing knowledge about the challenges of alternative care on three continents, increase knowledge base in 6 specific countries and provide guidelines for future EU Strategies on (de-)institutionalisation of children in developing countries.

The report examines the broader context of alternative care for children, exploring the range of factors that cause children to be living out of the protection of their family and to find themselves in suitable or unsuitable alternative
care placements, including institutional care.

The approach situates alternative care within the national child protection system, encouraging states to assume responsibility for their obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and thus ownership of their alternative care systems. The framework for determining country-specific strategies that it proposes aims at identifying the gaps in a country’s child protection system that allow for harmful alternative care practices. Suggestions towards reform range from preventive child protection measures to initiatives designed to reduce reliance on unsuitable forms of residential care.

The Towards the Right Care for Children synthesis report brings together the key thematic findings of extensive desk reviews for each of the three continents under consideration as well as six in-depth country studies (Chile, Ecuador, Indonesia, Nepal, Nigeria and Uganda). These country case studies, as well as continental surveys, are also available on the Capacity4Dev library.