Although we know that optimal support for children’s health, nutrition, and cognitive and social development comes from a caring and protective family, preventing and responding to the needs of children outside of family care presents many challenges. Yet without an accurate understanding of the magnitude and distribution of this population, success towards meeting these challenges cannot be measured. Dr. Lindsay Stark, Director of the CPC Learning Network, is working with USAID’s Center of Excellence on Children in Adversity to develop a strategy for governments in low and middle-income countries to enumerate children outside of family care and monitor trends in this population over time. The need for this strategy is explicated in the new U.S. Government Action Plan on Children in Adversity, which emphasizes the reduction of numbers of children outside of family care in select priority countries over the next five years. The guidelines will initially be piloted in Cambodia. The CPC Learning Network will also participate in the development of tools to enumerate children outside of family care during emergencies.

For more information on the how this method is being applied in Cambodia, please see our resource page.