No one knows how long COVID-19 will disrupt communities. While in the short term, the focus is on how we respond to the basic needs, there will be ongoing and long term consequences of the virus on health and social systems, possible financial instability and social unrest. 

This is both a risk and an opportunity. 

The risk is that hard fought for child welfare reforms could be undermined and the political will to prioritise transition into family based care may disappear, as both the formal and informal systems struggle with the aftermath of the virus. However, there is the opportunity to highlight the importance of planned closure of institutions, to develop high quality family based alternative care, to support kinship carers and care provision for children on the move. This is a global phenomenon, and rapidly changing. 

This platform space aims to capture essential to capture learning and emerging practice from one part of the world and share it more widely. You can do this by participating in one of the many group spaces, joining our online events,  and supporting your fellow community members by sharing your own relevant resources and experiences.


Some ideas and discussions we would like to capture in this community:

Children in Families: The COVID-19 pandemic has brought stressors for families that could lead to family separation. Let's discuss solutions for enabling safe and caring families, and preventing family separation, in the context of COVID-19. 

Children in Alternative Care: Learning and sharing ideas and resources on how to support and protect children in a range of alternative care settings, and the unique challenges and considerations that COVID-19 brings.

Children outside of care: Share ideas on steps to prevent children living outside of adult care, and in the interim, how to support and protect children without appropriate care.

Reintegrating children back to families: The pandemic has also created new challenges related to reintegrating separated children back to families. Learn about other organisations’ responses, share your learnings and experiences and access advice.

Other care-related issues and updates: Share any piece of general information about care-connected issues and COVID-19, as well as information on country updates and emerging child protection issues

Join Care During COVID-19 to start contributing to this community, as we work to protect and move forward children’s rights during the pandemic. 


Getting involved in this community

  • To get started, join the Care During COVID-19 group;
  • Please introduce yourself to the group, and let us know what area of children’s care you’re working on;
  • Search our topics and discussions for information relevant to your work and join the conversation;
  • Don’t see what you’re looking for? You can start your own discussions or add topics on the relevant tabs;
  • See if there are any events you would like to attend;
  • If you see anything that doesn’t follow our community rules, you can report it;
  • We want to make sure this is a safe space for everyone, including the children we serve through our programmes. Read a copy of the community rules here