For the last seven years, Maestral is proud to have partnered with Catholic Relief Services and many other local, national and international partners on the Changing the Way We Care (CTWWC) initiative. With a bold vision to bring safe and nurturing care to children around the world, the initiative pursued an approach that combined system strengthening, direct provision of care and support, and international influence. In four demonstration countries of Guatemala, India, Kenya and Moldova:
- Over 13,000 social service officials and workers were trained on care reform.
- More than 18,500 local service provider staff were trained and mentored on transitioning residential care, providing family-based care, family strengthening support or gatekeeping.
- 20 budgetary reviews and investment cases were prepared and 150 officials were informed about the importance of financing for children’s care.
- Over 3 million people were reached with awareness raising on family care directly and over 1,400 people were trained to deliver future awareness raising activities.
In addition, CTWWC in Guatemala, Haiti, India, Kenya and Moldova has modelled good practice through direct interventions which supported over 1,300 children and young people living in residential care to reintegrate with family, be placed in alternative family-based care or transition to independent living. In addition, almost 7,700 caregivers received family strengthening support to help prevent the separation of children or care for children returning to or being placed in their care, and over 150 young people and adults with lived experience were supported to be advocates for care reform. Demonstrating the power of a coordinated care reform approach to bring much needed support to children and their families.
CTWWC had a strong focus on strengthening national care systems and influencing care reform within the demonstration countries, the regions around these countries, and globally. Through the use of Outcome Harvesting, a monitoring methodology useful in complex initiatives, CTWWC has been able to track changes within national care systems, leading to 300 outcomes being harvested over the past six and half years. These changes included 96 outcomes reflecting commitment and 36 on coordination – key to ensuring a range of actors, from national and local government agencies to faith leaders and residential care managers, are pulling in the same direction. Service delivery shifts were noted 73 times including improvements in case management, residential care facilities shifting their service model, and the creation of new support groups and services for families. 33 outcomes covered changes in policies, laws, and guidelines, such as national guides for case management in Guatemala, a new National Children’s Act in Kenya, and a new National Child Protection Program and linked regulations in Moldova. Financial shifts were noted in 26 outcomes on the allocation of finances to Municipal Offices for Children and Adolescents (totaling more than 330,000 GTQ (~$42,000)) in Guatemala, local government investment in family strengthening services in Kenya, and national government investment in the workforce in Moldova. 19 outcomes reflected improvements to the social service workforce through changes in workforce structures and training to support case management, foster care and the transitioning of residential care. Improvements to M&E and evidence were reflected in 15 outcomes on new data collection exercises, improvements to child protection management information systems and the use of accurate data by government. And finally, 9 examples of changes in social norms were seen among government actors, the media, and families, reflecting a more positive view of family care and improved attitudes towards children with disabilities.
In addition, at the regional and global levels, where the emphasis was on influencing commitments and collaboration, CTWWC harvested 39 outcomes on commitments, including public statements (verbal and written) in support of care reform on moves towards closing residential care facilities, changing funding, and highlighting good practices in countries such as Cambodia, Colombia, Ethiopia, Honduras, Mexico, Nepal, Peru, Uganda, Ukraine, US and Zambia, as well as regionally in Latin America and Africa and globally. A further 26 outcomes reflected coordination including global promotion of the transition of residential care facilities, guidance on care reform during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the creation of new working groups and collective approaches to care reform efforts. And finally, 30 outcomes were harvested on direct changes in policies, financing, services, workforce and M&E in countries beyond the demonstration countries covering locations as diverse as Burkina Faso, Nicaragua, Ukraine, and China.
Nowhere was this regional influence more evident than in the powerful shift in practice across Latin America where CTWWC was part of supporting nine residential care centres to courageously transition toward family- and community-based models that restore what matters most: children growing up with their families. In Guatemala, Hogar Esquipulas, led by the Franciscan Sisters, and in Mexico, Centro Eudes in Tijuana and Ciudad Juárez were early pioneers in this process, followed by Buen Pastor in Saltillo, Las Nieves in Mexico City, and La Ciudad del Niño in Ciudad Juárez, run by the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd. In Peru, the transition continued with the support of Sisters of the Good Shepherd at Hogar Buen Pastor in Cusco and Reyna de la Paz in Lima, all committed to creating pathways back to family life. Each of these nine centres followed its own unique journey, but all are part of a growing movement. Together, they are proving that with the right support and a shared vision, it is possible to reimagine care—and bring children back to where they belong.