Save the Date - Webinar on Deinstitutionalizing the Alternative Care System for Children - December 5

This webinar is being co-hosted by the Better Care Network and the Global Social Service Workforce Alliance.

Deinstitutionalizing the Alternative Care System for Children:  The implications for the social service workforce with learning from Rwanda and Moldova

Participants of this webinar will have the opportunity to learn from experts in Rwanda and Moldova about their experiences with the deinstitutionalization of alternative care systems for children, or the shift from institutional care to family-based care. Deinstitutionalization is a complex process involving much more than closing institutions and moving children to family settings.  It involves the development of a range of family-based alternative care and the transformation or development of social service systems that embrace a child-centered approach.   This reform occurs within a framework of new laws and regulations, shifts in social norms, reorganization of financial and human resources and the establishment of new regulatory systems.

The effectiveness of this process relies on a well-planned, well-trained and supported workforce.  It can involve task shifting and training workers in institutions to take on new tasks, supporting local authorities and decision makers as they oversee the new system, and developing new cadres of community-based workers to provide critical support to families to ensure children receive quality care.  These workers also provide key supports to families to help to prevent the future institutionalization of children.

Presenters will provide information on the deinstitutionalization process in their respective countries, identify challenges and highlight specific approaches taken to put in place and train local professionals and para professionals to ensure quality support for children and their families. 

Please connect to the webinar using this link on December 5.

Note that the link will not be available until Dec 5.

Speakers will include:

Dr. Stela Grigorash is the Director of Partnerships for EveryChild Moldova supporting the Moldovan government to deinstitutionalize and close large-scale residential institutions, develop a system of child and family preventive and protective services and inclusive education for children with special educational needs. Stela was the national director of 'Capacity Building in Social Policy Reform' (2003-2007), which contributed to the launch of child care reform in the country, the national director of the DFID-funded support to social assistance reform in Moldova (2007–10), and the national coordinator and lead consultant to UNICEF's sub-regional consultation on child care reform.

Ms. Silvia Lupan joined UNICEF Moldova in 1997 and has been working as a UNICEF Child Protection Officer since 2002, coordinating interventions and providing technical assistance to government counterparts in the field of child care reform as part of wider reform in the social protection sector. She has also developed information management systems as a staff member of the data processing center under the Ministry of Education and as a database manager at the Chisinau Municipal Health Association. She graduated from the Moldovan State University in Chisinau with a Masters degree in Applied Mathematics.

Dr. Delia Pop is the Director of Programmes at Hope and Homes for Children.  Born and educated in Romania, Delia is a medical doctor who has committed the last 15 years to working with children in the institutional care system and families at risk of separation.  Delia has led the development of a model of change that has contributed to the transformation of child protection and care systems at national and regional level. Delia has provided direction for teams in 15 countries, across Europe and Africa, refining the deinstitutionalization model and ensuring its successful delivery within local, national and regional contexts.

More about this webinar series can be found here

To join the Global Social Service Workforce Alliance, click here

For more information about the Better Care Network, click here

For resources on workforce issues related to deinstitutionalizing alternative care systems for children, click here 

This webinar is supported by PEPFAR/USAID and CapacityPlus.