Everychild deserves a family

EveryChild is an international development charity working in 17 countries with a strategic focus on children without parental care. This document outlines EveryChild’s approach to this growing problem by defining key concepts, analysing the nature and extent of the problem, exploring factors which place children at risk of losing parental care, and examining the impact of a loss of parental care on children’s rights. It also provides principles for good practice in trying to reduce the number of children without parental care, and protect girls and boys who are already without their mothers and fathers. The document is primarily intended for internal use, though it is hoped that it will also be of relevance to others working in this field. The document was developed from consultations with over 400 children, a literature review, interviews with experts, and knowledge gained from EveryChild’s country programmes.

Who are children without parental care?

For the purpose of its work, EveryChild considers children without parental care to be boys and girls living apart from both their mothers and fathers. This is based on the UN Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children which defines children without parental care as :
“All children not in the overnight care of at least one of their parents, for whatever reason and under whatever circumstances.”

Whilst EveryChild recognises, as outlined in this definition, that any time apart from parents leaves children vulnerable, EveryChild tends to focus on children who spend longer than a night away from their parents. Children have to live apart from both parents to be considered outside of parental care and those that live in single parent households with just a mother or a father would be considered 'in parental care.'

Children who have been adopted are also defined as 'in parental care.'Children without parental care include girls and boys aged under 18 living in residential care, with extended or foster families, in child only households, in juvenile detention, on the streets or with employers. Overall, children without parental care are most likely to be found in extended family care. Both boys and girls suffer from a loss of parental care, though they often face very different challenges once separated from parents. Very young children and adolescents are most vulnerable to a loss of parental care.