Better Care Network

In 2003, UN agencies, the US development agency USAID and NGOs (save the Children UK) set up the Better Care Network. Since 2005 it has a steering committe under the umbrella of UNICEF in New York. The work of the network is aimed at filling the gap between the recognition that children have a right to a family, and the fact that millions of children are in institutional care.  About one million children lost their parents in armed conflict; more than 15 million children have lost one or both parents due to AIDS. In many countries, institutional care is still the answer to poverty and broken families. In even more countries, there are only a few measures which ensure that these children are adequately cared for by foster families. There is a great need for alternatives to institutional care if a separation of the parents is inevitable or has already taken place.

In November 2009, the General Assembly of the United Nations passed a resolution in which it welcomed the "Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children" in connection with the 20th anniversary of the UN Convention on the rights of the children. The guidelines are worth reading, as they place a priority on preventing abandonement of children. The parents or guardian of a child, who are in the process of abandoning the child need to be supported and counselled on potential alternatives. The reintegration of the family is a priority. Only if the reintegration of the family is not guaranteed, are other forms of care of abandoned children can be taken into account. These include the adoption and Kafala in addition to foster families and family-like accommodation. Necessity and appropriateness are the keywords of the guidelines. They are an important step forward.