July 2020
Updates on COVID-19 and Children's Care
' As the world responds to COVID-19, we propose one overarching question to guide countries’ efforts: are we making the world better for children?'  

- The WHO–UNICEF–Lancet Commissioners, from ' After COVID-19, a future for the world's children? '

The Better Care Network will continue to share tools, guidance, information, and other resources regarding children's care and protection during the COVID-19 pandemic as practitioners, policymakers, and other key stakeholders work to respond to the needs of children and families impacted by this crisis. For more resources on COVID-19 and children's care, visit the growing collection of documents in the

In this webinar hosted by Better Care Network and the Consortium for Street Children, speakers from three NGOs (Safe Society India , JUCONI in Mexico , and Railway Children in Tanzania ) presented on and discussed the care implications of COVID-19 and responses to the pandemic on street-affected children, including family reunification, the role informal care has played and how governments have been addressing street-connected children's needs.



In this online event, Family for Every Child members FSCE ( Ethiopia ), The Mulberry Bush ( UK ), Praajak ( India ) and CSID ( Bangladesh ) discussed children's care in the context of COVID-19. 


This document from UNICEF provides interim guidance for child protection and health actors in the context of quarantine and isolation measures to mitigate related child protection risks, minimize family separation, and promote family unity and social cohesion.


This UN Policy Brief offers four basic tenets to guide our collective response to human mobility and the COVID-19 crisis, including the response to children on the move and, in particular, children who are separated or unaccompanied.


This package of materials from Changing the Way We Care, now available in Spanish as well as English, features guidance and tools for case management and virtual monitoring during the COVID-19 pandemic.


This brief provides an overview, including key questions and considerations, of version 2 of the Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action's Technical Note on Protection of Children during the COVID-19 Pandemic.


This document from the Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action builds on existing response action from several countries and case management task force agencies. It provides considerations for adapting Child Protection Case Management (CP CM) interventions to the COVID-19 pandemic and to better understand the important role of case management in the emergency. 


In this policy brief, Joining Forces, a coalition of six child rights organisations, calls for child protection to be prioritised in the response to COVID-19.

This guidance from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is designed to support the continuation and improvement of efforts to ensure a stable home and caregiver for children in the U.S. child welfare system - which are important to nurturing their development and preventing trauma that can affect a child across the lifespan - so that all children and families may flourish.


This How We Care series from Family for Every Child explores how Family for Every Child's Members are providing essential psychosocial support to vulnerable children and families within the context of the pandemic. It highlights the work of the Children in Distress Network (CINDI) in South Africa , Conacmi in Guatemala , and Mulberry Bush in the UK .

Learn more about each of the approaches below:

Related Topics: Mental Health and COVID-19

In the context of COVID-19, this manual produced by CHILDLINE and UNICEF India focuses on psychosocial care of children and prevention of violence in spaces where children stay (child care institutions, families, temporary isolation facilities, NGO shelters, etc.)


This brief report from the Martin James Foundation explores the impact that Covid-19 has had on fostering households in the United Kingdom .


This rapid assessment from Street Child was conducted with 12,100 respondents across 13 countries, aimed at understanding the needs and gaps in assuring assistance for children and communities in fragile, conflict and crisis affected countries during the COVID-19 crisis.


This policy paper by Save the Children outlines some of the main threats the COVID-19 pandemic poses to children in Africa and suggests some of the political and programmatic responses to protect children’s rights.


This Call to Action from Early Opportunities, UNICEF, and Aga Khan Foundation outlines some of the impacts of both displacement and COVID-19 that are threatening the positive development of many young children around the world. It calls for governments and donors honor existing commitments, ensure inclusion of young children and families in public systems and take FIVE immediate actions.


This report presents the findings from a survey commissioned by the Asia-Pacific Regional Network for Early Childhood (ARNEC) to get insights and share experiences on the situation of children and the status of early childhood development (ECD) as a result of COVID-19 and the resulting containment and risk mitigation measures being implemented in countries in Asia-Pacific region.


This joint position statement from Eurochild, International Step by Step Association, Roma Education Fund and the European Public Health Alliance calls for prioritising investment in early childhood services in light of the COVID-19 crisis.


This webinar hosted by the International Step by Step Association (ISSA) shares examples of successful approaches for supporting the most vulnerable families and young children during the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy , Belgium , Germany , and Ukraine .


This webinar - hosted by the Inter-Agency Network on Education in Emergencies (INEE), the Early Childhood Development Action Network (ECDAN) and the Moving Minds Alliance (MMA) - focused on Early Childhood Development in Humanitarian Settings in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In this webinar, hosted by Early Childhood Development Network, UNICEF, and the Khan Foundation, panelists discuss programs to support parents and caregivers during the COVID-19 crisis.

This webpage from UNICEF links to the  Policy Brief on the Impact of COVID-19 on children , the  Dashboard on Data to inform the COVID-19 response , and other key data resources on COVID-19 and its impacts on children, including a  Rapid situation tracking for COVID-19 socioeconomic impacts  dashboard.

This Joint Statement the ASEAN Ministers responsible for social welfare and development outlines their concerns and commitments to action regarding meeting the needs of vulnerable people impacted by the COVID-19 crisis, including children with disabilities, children deprived of liberty, and children in institutional care, among other groups.


This research by the NIHR Policy Research Unit in Health and Social Care Workforce and the Policy Institute of King’s College London set out to capture the ways in which adaptations were made by UK local authorities in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. This report is based on the experiences of 15 local authority children’s social care (CSC) departments that volunteered to participate in the research and whose views were captured between late May and early June 2020.


In this comment piece, the The WHO–UNICEF–Lancet Commissioners argue that "recovery and adaptation to COVID-19 can be used to build a better world for children and future generations."


This report from World Vision presents findings from rapid assessments in 24 countries across Latin America , Sub-Saharan Africa , and Asia confirming alarming predictions of increased child hunger, violence, and poverty due to the economic impact of COVID-19.


Based on World Vision's extensive experience working with children and families in crisis, this policy brief outlines recommendations to stakeholders, such as governments, UN agencies, NGOs, and donors, and calls for the use of child-sensitive social protection in these stakeholder’s responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. 


This synthesis is the first in a series of digests of COVID-19 related resources (guidance, news, & academic articles) from the Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action. It focuses on sexual and gender-based violence and COVID-19. Read also: COVID-19 Synthesis #3 Education - CPMS 23: Impact of School Closures on Children's Protection and Well-being


This Policy Brief from the United Nations highlights the impact of COVID-19 on persons with disabilities and in doing so, outlines key actions and recommendations to make the response and recovery inclusive of persons with disabilities. It highlights in particular the importance of protection of people in institutional settings, including children, in this context.


6 August 2020
Better Care Network, ACC International Relief, and Changing the Way We Care
10-11 September 2020
Christian Alliance for Orphans (CAFO)
13-16 October 2020
Be Strong Families, Center for the Study of Social Policy, Families Canada, Seattle Human Services, & National Family Support Network
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GENERAL INFORMATION

Newsletter participants, currently 4,512 in total, work on issues related to the care and support of vulnerable children across Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Americas. The purpose of the newsletter is to enable members to exchange information on matters of mutual concern. If you would like to share a document, raise a specific issue, request a newsletter subscription, or reach out in any other way to the Network, please send the information to us at  contact@bettercarenetwork.org  or visit our website at  www.bettercarenetwork.org.  

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