Enabling reform: Why supporting children with disabilities must be at the heart of successful child care reform

Enabling reform: Why supporting children with disabilities must be at the heart of successful child care reform

This research paper was developed jointly by the Better Care Network and EveryChild as part of the Better Care Network’s series of working papers on alternative care.

The paper argues that disability should be placed at the heart of child care reform due to the large number of children with disabilities living in harmful institutional care, the lack of support for families trying to care for children with disabilities, the lack of alternative care options for children with disabilities and legal and economic imperative to provide proper care for these children. It aims to inform those who are developing and implementing child care policies, and to demonstrate, through examples, how effective reform can be achieved.

The paper suggests that it is imperative for stakeholders working on both disability and alternative care to challenge discrimination and create the political will for reform, change national legislation and guidance on disability and alternative care to reflect the CRC, CRPD and Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children, provide better support to families caring for children with disabilities and, as a matter of priority, end the institutional care of all children and ensure that children with disabilities have a range of high quality family-based alternative care options open to them.

The report is available here.