Guidelines for Implementing a National Strategy to Determine the Magnitude and Distribution of Children Outside of Family Care

This document represents an important milestone in moving towards evidence-based policies and programs for children outside of family care. While significant effort has been made to incorporate input from a range of experts and stakeholders, this is a draft document that has yet to be piloted. We expect that these guidelines will be revised based on field learning. Validation measures will be built into the initial pilots to assess the strength of the proposed methods, and recommendations for future enumerations will be adjusted accordingly.

Our hope is to provide national and international actors with a foundation for monitoring children outside of family care in order to leverage the support needed to help strengthen families and reduce the numbers of children living outside of family care. As with any new methodology, there will be unanticipated challenges, but we see these as opportunities to improve our tools and approach for the future. We want to inspire a productive dialogue amongst all of us working on behalf of children in adversity

Over time, these guidelines will become more standardized and detailed implementation manuals can be developed. At the same time, we hope they will continue to leave room for adaptation at the national level in order to be able to fit into, and build upon, existing measurement and monitoring initiatives. Best practices for children outside of family care will continue to evolve based on research and experience. We hope that these guidelines represent one step in the direction of more informed action to assist these children.