Introduction: The Overlooked Truth About Keeping Families Together

Today, on World Children’s Day, we pause to recognise the universal rights owed to every child, from education and health to protection and play. But rights do not exist in a vacuum; they are deeply interconnected. And for most children, the foundation for delivering these rights is the family.

The right to family life is often the linchpin. When a child is separated from their family, it rarely endangers just one right; it risks causing a domino effect that threatens their right to identity, their right to development, and their right to be safe from harm.

Yet, a common assumption persists that family separation is usually a necessary response to abuse or neglect. Reality, however, is often far simpler and more tragic: in the vast majority of cases children are separated from their parents due to the overwhelming pressures of poverty.

The United Nations Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children state unequivocally that financial and material poverty should never be the only justification for the removal of a child from the care of their parents. Instead, it should be seen as an indicator of their need for support.

At the Martin James Foundation, our learning from working with partners in 18 countries has confirmed that direct support to families can be a powerful catalyst for strengthening child protection systems. This post will explore three key takeaways from the work of our partners that demonstrate how small, direct interventions create the ripple effects that can lead to large-scale, sustainable change.

1. It Starts with Trust (and a Holistic View of Family Needs)

Effective family strengthening does not begin with a checklist of services; it begins with building trust. Our partners have found that child-specific solutions may be insufficient because a child’s well-being is inseparable from their family’s stability. As our partner Udayan Care learned, interventions must focus on the family as an entire unit to adequately protect a child.

Udayan Care’s “FiT Families Together” project in Delhi began as an emergency response for children who were rapidly returned to their families from institutions during the COVID-19 lockdown. The team quickly realised that for reintegration to be successful, they needed to support not just the individual child, but their siblings and parents as well.

This insight led to the development of a broader prevention and family strengthening initiative guided by their “Circle of Care and Protection”. This model provides holistic support across ten domains, from basic needs and household finances to mental health and positive parenting, treating the family as an interconnected unit.

Their approach demonstrated that with timely, coordinated support, families can successfully provide safe and nurturing environments for children who were once institutionalised.

This trust-based, holistic model is also embodied by our partner in Cambodia, This Life, who take a similar approach rooted in deep community listening. Their work is grounded in the principle of listening to communities first. As their team listened, they discovered that the challenges children faced were deeply connected to broader issues within families and communities, which prompted a shift in focus towards family strengthening.

Today, This Life uses a comprehensive, community-centred approach that includes case management, economic strengthening, and psychosocial support to keep families together. In Cambodia, family separation is often driven by a combination of poverty, the desire for better educational opportunities, and the historical disruption of traditional social structures that once provided a robust community safety net.

By addressing root causes like financial instability or lack of legal entitlements, the holistic approach of partners like Udayan Care and This Life resolves problems before they escalate. This proactive support creates its own ripple effect, where every family stabilised is one less child entering the formal care system. It shifts the focus from being reactive, separating a child after a crisis, to being proactive and preventive, supporting a family to stay together.

2. Local Level Work Provides the ‘How’ for High-Level Policy

International frameworks such as the UN Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children provide the essential ‘what’ and ‘why’ of care reform, establishing the principles and goals. However, it is often the work of local, civil society partners that can demonstrate the ‘how’, creating the practical, evidence-based models necessary to turn high-level policy into practice.

Much has already been achieved, and for global care reform to accelerate, now is the moment to build on that progress by ensuring successful practice informs policy.

The recent Doha Declaration recognises the family as the irreplaceable foundation of social development and calls on the world to strengthen social protection systems. But these commitments remain abstract principles until organisations, including our partners, demonstrate how to translate them into reality.

Initiatives like the Global Charter on Children’s Care Reform galvanise these principles, calling on governments to make specific, measurable commitments to strengthen families and progressively end the use of institutions. When the Global Charter calls for an end to the reliance on institutions, the work of civil society organisations, such as our partners, and committed governments is demonstrating what is possible and necessary in their context.

Likewise, when the Doha Declaration calls for strengthening social protection to combat poverty (what it terms as the “greatest global challenge”), Udayan Care’s work produces a robust set of processes, procedures, and practices, creating a replicable model that can inform programmatic and strategic thinking across India and beyond.

This work with communities generates contextually validated results that is often more persuasive and actionable for policymakers than externally designed theoretical frameworks. This creates the ultimate ripple effect: a successful local model that can be adapted and scaled, influencing practice far beyond its original community.

3. The Power of One: How a Single Case Can Influence an Entire System

The connection between direct service and systems change is not abstract; it is direct and tangible. A single, well-managed case can expose a systemic weakness and become the catalyst for its reform.

One of our partners developing case management protocols to keep children out of orphanages was assigned the case of a young boy at risk of being placed in an institution. Their investigation revealed an older brother who was willing and eager to care for him but lacked the funds for transportation.

In this instance, a simple bus ticket was the specific, individualised support that prevented this child’s placement into an institution. Critically, this small, precise intervention also proved instrumental in the organisation’s advocacy for gatekeeping services as alternatives to institutionalisation.

This pattern of individual casework contributing to systems change is also mirrored in the work of Udayan Care. Their collaborative, multi-stakeholder approach to supporting individual families facilitated the creation of the Delhi State Network on Family Strengthening, a formal body bringing together government ministries and community organisations, allowing for a coordinated approach to child protection.

Furthermore, by working closely with local Child Welfare Committees (CWCs), those responsible for making decisions about children’s care and protection, Udayan Care prevented the reinstitutionalisation of 29 children, directly influencing official practice and decision-making.

These examples prove a vital point about how meaningful change occurs. As we have learned from the achievements of our partners, those doing the work are also the ones shaping the work.

The Family is the Social Net

In a world of vast needs and limited resources, we must focus on what works. One of our partners, working in a country with few formal support mechanisms, perfectly captured the ultimate truth of this work, stating that in the absence of a robust social net, the family is the social net.

While families have served as this primary safety net for centuries, they cannot always sustain the weight of poverty and crisis in isolation. At the Martin James Foundation, we champion the vital interplay between the natural strength of the family and the formal protections created by governments and civil society. We believe these systems should not operate in parallel, but in partnership.

As we look to reinforce societies, imagine what we could achieve if we started by investing in the foundational social net that already exists: the family. On this World Children’s Day, let us recognise that protecting children starts with protecting their right to family life.

By Ailsa Laxton, Director of Global Programmes at Martin James Foundation

Context

Rwanda has made great progress in care reform in recent years. However, many Rwandan families caring for children with disabilities still face barriers such as poverty, stigma, and limited access to services. UCC’s work demonstrates that with the right support and early intervention, families can thrive together.

In northern Rwanda, where UCC is based, community awareness and access to specialised support remain limited. Many parents caring for children with disabilities need both psychosocial and economic assistance to prevent unnecessary family separation. UCC’s new project responds to these needs by ensuring families receive support before a crisis hits.

Quotes:

From MJF:

“We are proud to partner with Ubumwe Community Center, whose work embodies compassion, inclusion, and resilience. Their holistic approach to supporting families of children with disabilities aligns perfectly with our shared belief that every child deserves to grow up surrounded by care, understanding, and opportunity.”

From Ubumwe Community Center:

“This partnership will allow us to reach more families and children before separation occurs. We will be able to demonstrate that inclusion and family-based care go hand in hand. When communities are empowered, every child can thrive within a loving home.”

Context

Across Ghana, thousands of children remain at risk of separation from their families due to poverty, disability stigma, and limited access to quality education and social services. Many parents turn to orphanages out of desperation, believing institutional care will offer their children better opportunities. Yet the evidence is clear: children thrive best in families.

In the country’s northern regions, Brave Aurora’s work has already shown what is possible. In the North East Region, which was once home to 23 residential homes, there are now none in operation, thanks to sustained community engagement, family strengthening, and strong government collaboration. The new project builds on this proven model to reach new areas in the Upper East Region, which has the highest number of residential homes in northern Ghana.

About the Partnership

Through this 12-month partnership, MJF Global will support Brave Aurora to expand the Young Ambassadors Project into Ghana’s Upper East Region, which has the highest concentration of residential homes in northern Ghana.

The project will:
– Train young people with lived experience of care and caregivers in public speaking, community engagement, and advocacy;
– Conduct community engagement initiatives to challenge misconceptions about institutional care and promote family-based alternatives;
– Facilitate family tracing and reintegration for  children currently living in residential homes; and
– Support the transition of residential homes into family-based care models in collaboration with the Department of Social Welfare.

By empowering young leaders to tell their stories and influence change, Brave Aurora and MJF aim to strengthen Ghana’s movement toward a care system rooted in families, not institutions.

We’re honoured to stand alongside Brave Aurora. Please follow their journey and support their mission to ensure every child in Ghana grows up in a safe and loving family.
Visit www.braveaurora.com to learn more and get involved.

Quotes:

From MJF:

“Brave Aurora’s deep community roots and leadership in care reform exemplify what sustainable change could look like. We are delighted to partner with them on this project – their Young Ambassadors are leading the way to ensure that every child can grow up safe, supported, and loved.”

From Brave Aurora:

“This partnership with MJF Global enables us to scale what we know works: local leadership, grounding our work in lived experience, and family-first solutions. Together, we will strengthen communities, support families, and show that change led by young people is not only possible, but powerful.”

On 24 September 2025, governments and civil society gathered in New York to launch the Global Charter on Children’s Care Reform in a global effort to ensure that every child grows up in a safe, nurturing family, not an institution. The UK Government has championed this initiative as part of its wider campaign on children’s care reform.

We were proud that two leaders from the Care Leaders Council (CLC), Maicol and Phong, were there to represent the voices of young people with lived experience of care. Their presence brought both hard-won insight and urgency to a high-level discussion that too often happens without those most affected by its outcomes.

The Martin James Foundation helped make their participation possible because we believe that the people most affected by a policy must be present when it is made. We are also grateful to partners across the care reform movement, including the Better Care Network and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), for standing behind care-experienced leadership.

The Care Leaders Council has since published a compelling reflection on the event, outlining what they believe needs to happen for the Charter to deliver real change. Their article identifies several practical indicators of progress, which are clear, trackable, and politically meaningful.  That could help measure whether the Charter becomes a true landmark for reform.

“Please read the Care Leaders Council’s reflections, originally published on LinkedIn, to hear directly from care-experienced young people about the future they want to shape. We share their message in the hope that the launch of the Global Charter marks not an endpoint, but the beginning of a global conversation, one that will help ensure more children grow up in families, not institutions.”