The Better Care Network is an interagency network facilitating global information exchange and collaboration on the issue of children without adequate family care.


The global hub of knowledge to facilitate action for children without family care

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COVID-19 Resource Center

 

Resources on the response to the COVID-19 pandemic as it relates to child protection and children's care. 

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Ukraine Response

 

This section includesUkraine Map resources, news and other key documents related to children's care in the context of the current humanitarian crisis affecting Ukraine and surrounding countries. 

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The OPT Humanitarian Crisis

 

This section includes news related to children's care in the context of the current humanitarian crisis affecting  Gaza and other parts of the Occupied Palestinian Territory. This section is updated regularly.

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Transforming Children's Care

Visit the Transforming Children's Care Collaborative, aimed at establishing more strategic sector-wide collaboration.

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Transition Hub

Visit the resource hub on transforming systems of care, including the transitioning of residential care services.

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ReThink Orphanages

Cross sectoral global coalition working to redirect funding away from orphanages towards family strengthening and address the issues of orphanage voluntourism and orphanage trafficking. 

 

 

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Browse the Practitioner Hub

Explore the Practitioner Hub, an online library containing practitioner-related resources organized around the components of the care system.

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See an article exploring the complex landscape of alternative care for orphaned and vulnerable children in Afghanistan; an intervention model to support teen mothers developed by Hope and Homes for Children (HHC) in Rwanda; an article examining the impact of clientelism on the rights of children residing in unregulated residential care facilities in Cambodia and Myanmar, and much more.

In this article, UNICEF discusses how UNICEF and the Government of Mozambique are advancing reforms to reduce the number of children placed in institutions—from 7,269 in 2020 to 3,624 in 2024—by prioritizing family-based care.

In January 2025, U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy launched an initiative to transform the lives of all children globally, so that they are cared for in families and free of violence, exploitation and other harmful practices.

The Global Charter on Children’s Care Reform is a call for world leaders to act together to: uphold the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; invest in families, children, care leavers, and inclusive services; and end violence against children and harmful practices like orphanage tourism.

This technical report, from WHO, describes the prevalence, risk factors for, and consequences of child corporal punishment, which it defines as “any punishment in which physical force is used and intended to cause some degree of pain or discomfort, however light”.

In this video, practitioners, faith leaders, and a Kafaalah caregiver share experiences in promoting and strengthening Kafaalah as an important part of family-based alternative care in Kenya.