GHR envisions a world in which all children—especially those without, or at risk of losing, parental care—are living in a stable, positive, long-term family. Global research demonstrates that children raised in families have better cognitive, emotional and social outcomes than those living outside family care.

Recognizing that advancing this vision required learning from those already in the field, GHR partnered with Alia Innovations, a Saint Paul-based organization driving transformative change for the people and systems entrusted with the welfare and care of children.

Collaboration with Alia illuminated a clear need in the care sector for an accessible, easily applicable, universal messaging system around the long-term benefits of family care for children. Turning to the Frameworks Institute in Washington, D.C, GHR and Alia worked to develop simple, compelling, and far-reaching messaging strategies to advance their common efforts to preserve family connections around the globe, while simultaneously spreading this call to action to partners worldwide.

GHR hosted a webinar in May 2019, led by the Frameworks Institute, to share with partners in the space the initial messages and framing strategies -- interrogating the ideas behind them, and generating critical discussion and feedback. Language was added around attachment and love as an angle of the brain architecture, a message that FrameWorks found to be effective among broader audiences. 
​
Based on these resultant recommendations, Frameworks then crafted a day-long workshop for advocates in the care sector, covering framing techniques aimed at ensuring that specific, clear messaging was communicated to relevant audiences in a manner that was persuasive and easily applicable. Held a few days prior to the Elevate Children Funder’s Group Annual General Meeting, several members of ECFG were in attendance, creating a space where advocates could share their personal experiences and learnings.

The next steps in this process include using these framing recommendations for future communications around family strengthening and care for children, and supporting initiatives doing the same.  

GHR Foundation's Children in Families funding supports child protection interventions that strengthen families, respond to children without family care and drive further evidence of innovative approaches. ​In Uganda, GHR’s Sister Support initiative found Catholic sisters are well-positioned to realize the best possible outcomes for vulnerable children and children living outside of family care by combining the Catholic tradition of care with insights from contemporary research.

In 2016, with guidance and funding from GHR, the Association of Religious in Uganda formed Catholic Care for Children in Uganda (CCCU) to unify Catholic sisters championing reform. The organization has helped hundreds of Catholic leaders and administrators from care institutions understand new child protection legislation and embrace an alternative care framework.

This week, CCCU launched a comprehensive new child protection policy at the Association of Religious in Uganda’s annual meeting of religious institute Superiors. Formed by stakeholders including Superiors, administrators and Diocesan representatives, the policy is an important document required by law to provide guidance for work with vulnerable children. The new policy will now be disseminated to stakeholders for implementation.

Designed to protect children from abuse or neglect, the child protection policy outlines best practices for ensuring the safety of child for whom services are being provided. Training manuals on child protection are currently being distributed to congregations of Catholic sisters, staff members of care institutions, political leaders, parents and community members through radio messages, community dialogues and home visits. Members of the Association of Religious in Uganda plan to visit religious institutes and provide detailed in-person trainings.
​
Recognizing the right of every child to life, dignity, development and protection, this new policy indicates a commitment by Catholic sisters in Uganda to minimizing risk, practicing accountability and maintaining a proactive approach in their efforts to provide family-like care for vulnerable children. To learn more about how Catholic sisters are joining the effort to provide stable, positive, long-term family or family-like environments for children, contact us.

At GHR, we value sharing knowledge and listening to one another. We find every opportunity to cross-pollinate between programs, foundations and initiatives, leveraging expertise and boosting creativity. One such collaboration is happening now, between our Children in Families and Sister Support initiatives.

In 2016, when the Ugandan parliament passed progressive legislation to ensure better outcomes for children living outside of family care, Catholic sisters stepped up and championed reform. With guidance and funding from GHR, Catholic Care for Children in Uganda—part of the Association of Religious in Uganda—is leading the way toward a “family-like environment for every child.” In its first nine months, the organization “won hearts and minds,” helping hundreds of Catholic leaders and administrators from care institutions understand the new legislation and embrace an alternative care framework.

​Phase one of Catholic Care for Children in Uganda is well underway. Of the seventy Catholic brothers and sisters slated for social work training, the first 22 successfully completed their first semester in May. More than a hundred people have taken intensive courses on child protection and a high-quality child protection policy has been adopted by the Association of Religious in Uganda.
 
Catholic Care for Children in Uganda leadership is planning for phase two, during which it will help congregations responsible for 46 Catholic care institutions implement best practices and pilot efforts to move from institutionalized care to community- or family-based care. These efforts will lay the groundwork for a larger movement toward the alternative care framework. Catholic Care for Children in Uganda is an exciting cross-initiative collaboration, advancing the goals of both our Sister Support Initiative and our Children in Families initiative.

Through this collaboration, we are strengthening Ugandan congregations in ways that ultimately benefit children. By sharing expertise and thinking outside the box, we can find truly innovative solutions. To learn more about GHR's Children in Families and Sister Support initiatives, contact us.

From the European Foundation Centre Blog:

"From Sihanoukville, Cambodia to Makululu Compound in Zambia, we are seeing children reunited with their families. These communities, recovering from issues like conflict or the impact of HIV/AIDS, are getting stronger day-by-day.
​
One fact is central to our work in these communities: Most children living in orphanages..."
Read more

When international nonprofits approach global development issues, they often use a top-down structure to work with local partners. This makes sharing local knowledge and best practices difficult, and diminishes the ability of local partners to influence governments or implement policy change.

In 2009, U.K.-based nonprofit Every Child realized the limitations of their approach to helping vulnerable children and families. Taking a radical leap of faith, they decided on a creative, innovative restructuring. Every Child disbanded itself and began a seven-year planning period, emerging in 2016 as Family for Every Child, an independent global alliance of former international partners and grassroots civil society organizations.

Family for Every Child’s act of creative reconstruction attracted GHR’s attention, and ultimately, support. In 2012, our Children in Families initiative became one of Family for Every Child’s first funders, issuing a small grant to assist them in capacity building for membership engagement. More recently, we supported Family for Every Child’s development of Guidelines on Children’s Reintegration, a valuable resource for child protection around the world. Today, Family for Every Child is a global alliance composed of 30 organizations with shared goals, connecting and collaborating to break the glass ceiling that prevents many local organizations from achieving policy changes that effectively protect children.
​
Bold nonprofits that choose innovative, lean approaches to global problems often lack the support necessary for growth. To fill this gap, GHR is committed to supporting organizations like Family for Every Child. We believe impact can be maximized when approaches to challenges are continuously re-imagined, and we hope to collaborate with more organizations that embrace risk and reinvention to better serve the communities in which they work.

​GHR funds collaborations between nonprofits and civil society organizations because we value bold and innovative solutions to challenges faced by vulnerable children. What does collaboration look like within your organization or alliance? Share your success, opportunities and questions in the comments below or learn more about GHR’s Children in Families initiative here.

GHR Foundation's Children in Families initiative is working in Cambodia to support child protection interventions that strengthen families, respond to children without family care and drive further evidence of innovative, pro-family approaches. This geographic focus began less than one year ago, and the dedication demonstrated by our partners is already showing progress.
 
One of these partners is First Step Cambodia (FSC), an organization focusing on the male victims and survivors of sexual abuse and their families and communities. FSC provides direct services to children and families, expands organizational training on child abuse and conducts research on Sexually Harmful Behavior (SHB), as well as related gaps in social work practice. In the first few months of partnership with GHR, First Step Cambodia began collaborating with other GHR partners, including M’lup Tapang, M’lop Russey and Angkor Hospital for Children, to support services for children affected by sexual abuse and SHB. This relationship has already resulted in referrals, the co-management of complex cases, collective effort to support cases and the sharing of resources and expertise. Interventions provided by FSC have brought positive changes to clients’ lives. Eight cases were closed during the first half of 2016, and significant improvements were made in helping children cope with fear, communication, difficulty at school and isolation. FHC has witnessed families who fully support their children instead of blaming them, and communities which welcome victims back instead of discriminating against them.
 
Another partner demonstrating early impact is Bethany Christian Services, which is working in Cambodia to increase the number of children placed from orphanages into long term foster, foster-adopt and kinship care families. They are doing so by building a platform of services, including networks of churches and non-governmental organizations that provide alternative care services to children. During the first half of 2016, Bethany placed 20 children in kinship care. Eight children were placed in new long term foster homes, and 20 families have undergone training and preparation to be foster families. In addition to providing direct services to families, Bethany is training four other organizations to care for vulnerable children and orphans within families. They plan to expand this training program to include ten partner organizations.
 
The inspiring progress of grantees like First Step Cambodia and Bethany Christian Services is indicative of the change that is possible in Cambodia. Each child they serve brings us closer to a world where all children—especially those at risk of losing or without parental care—are living in a stable, positive, long-term family or family-like environment. To learn more about GHR’s work in Cambodia, contact us.

GHR Foundation's Children in Families funding supports child protection interventions that strengthen families, respond to children without family care and drive further evidence of innovative, pro-family approaches. One important component of this work is advocating for innovative solutions and helping organizations in the field implement them. Family for Every Child, a Children in Families grantee, recently published a document that will be a valuable resource for the protection of children around the world--the Guidelines on Children’s Reintegration.

​Since 2011, Family for Every Child has been working with a group of child protection agencies to create the Guidelines on the Reintegration of Children. They consulted 158 children as well as 127 service providers and policy-makers from 66 organizations in more than 20 countries, and received endorsements from 31 organizations. Global research demonstrates that children raised in families or family-like settings have better cognitive, emotional and social outcomes than those living outside family care. International law and policies lack comprehensive guidance on reintegrating children back into families and communities from institutions, so this document will be a valuable tool for those working to enhance the protection of children around the world.

The Guidelines are intended to aid governments, donors, nonprofits, faith-based organizations and practitioners in pursuing reintegration as the primary response in cases of separated children. They provide practical guidance for effective reintegration that can help organizations design high quality programs, measure impact, train practitioners and pursue national level systemic change in support of reintegration.

To learn more about how GHR is working with Family for Every Child to pursue a world where all children—especially those at risk of losing or without parental care—are living in a stable, positive, long-term family or family-like environment, contact us.

GHR Foundation envisions a world where all children—especially those at risk of losing or without parental care—are living in a stable, positive, long-term family or family-like environment. Members of the GHR staff, board and committees recently visited Zambia to meet with grantee partners and the children and families they serve, as well as community representatives, government representatives and Catholic sisters working with vulnerable children. Over the course of five days, visitors witnessed the work of our partners and participated in the important conversations being had in Zambia. The visit allowed GHR to deepen our engagement in the region, strengthen our reputation and offer personal support to those working to change the lives of families and vulnerable children.

The first day was spent visiting families and children in Kabwe with Catholic Medical Mission Board and engaging a circle of mothers who have formed a savings group. Each member contributes 50 cents per week to provide emergency grants and small business loans for members. These efforts help families meet basic needs and keep their children at home. The following morning was spent supporting families with community volunteers in the suburbs of Lusaka, followed by an emotional meeting with two families who have been reunited with their children.

GHR staff, board and committee members also had the opportunity to visit two foster families in the process of finalizing the adoption of children placed in their care. Both families are becoming strong advocates for adoption, and advocate for other parents to foster or adopt. Participants also spent time with the GHR working group, a cohort of grantees with aligned programming which highlighted a clear, strong commitment to collaborative processes and hope for significant progress on the national stage. GHR's investment in partnership is showing returns in this group, which has promise as a model for other grantees as they coordinate their efforts to develop a culture of trust and transparent communication. 
​
The site visit to Zambia demonstrated great momentum around the critical issue of children living outside of family care, and we are excited by the possibilities for progress in the country. The aspirations and commitment of those driving change on the ground was clear. To learn more about how GHR's Children in Families funding supports child protection interventions that strengthen families, respond to children without family care and drive further evidence of innovative, pro-family approaches, contact us.

GHR Foundation's Children in Families funding is currently supporting child protection interventions in Zambia, a country with an estimated 8,000 children living in 190 institutions. Program staff recently participated in a Zambia National Consultation facilitated by our partners and attended by more than 40 representatives of the Zambian government and other stakeholders in the welfare of children outside of family care.

The three-day consultation drew constructive engagement and discussion from everyone present, and concluded with the issuing of a call for action by the Ministry of Community Development and Social Welfare, titled “Accelerating Child Care Reform in Zambia.” The document encourages other ministries, cooperating partners, civil society and other stakeholders to support actions including the establishment of a national technical working group on child care reform, the development of a national alternative care framework and the undertaking of research and evidence building.
 
Other takeaways include the focus on supporting children with disabilities, which was well-addressed by the government and the call for action, and the necessity of strengthening the social welfare workforce by improving training and accreditation. In the country of more than 14 million people, there are only 274 social welfare officers—actors key to our work. The next step after the consultation will be the formation of a technical working group on alternative care. This group will incorporate expertise from the current group of GHR partners and broaden participation to a larger number of stakeholders in Zambia.
 
To learn more about how GHR is working toward a world where all children are living in a stable, positive, long-term family or family-like environment, contact us.

Global research demonstrates that children raised in families or family-like settings have better cognitive, emotional and social outcomes than those living outside family care. GHR Foundation’s Sister Support initiative has found that Catholic sisters are well positioned to realize the best possible outcomes for vulnerable children and children living outside of family care by combining the best of the Catholic tradition of care with insights from contemporary research.
 
In Uganda—a country where an estimated 50,000 children live in institutions and more than half of the children are deemed critically or moderately vulnerable—the number of child care institutions has increased from 36 to over 500 in the last 20 years.
 
Legislation recently adopted by the Ugandan government means significant changes are in the making. The new legislation emphasizes keeping children connected with families, placing children in family-like environments and using institutional care only as a last resort. Training in social work will be expected for those responsible for children living outside of families.
 
GHR Foundation has recently partnered with the Association of Religious of Uganda to complete studies on the new requirements, educational opportunities and Catholic work with vulnerable children and children living outside of family care. The Association of Religious of Uganda is currently developing plans to help sisters build their capacity to provide the highest level of care possible for children in need.
 
For some congregations in Uganda, working with vulnerable children and children living outside of family care is the reason for their existence. By helping these congregations gain the skills necessary to succeed, there is potential for ensuring vital futures for both Catholic sisters and children outside of family care. To learn more about how GHR is working with sisters and children, contact us.