A study launched by the Ministry of Social Development and UNICEF on Sunday revealed that the ministry, since the launch of the alternative family care programme in 2012, has succeeded in integrating about 252 children into alternative families in Amman, Zarqa and Irbid.

The study, titled "Expanding the scope of alternative care for those who have lost the family bond — estimating costs and presenting options for expansion of social and economic benefits", indicated that children are still placed mainly in shelters, and there can be about 800 to 1,200 children in shelters at any given time.

The study included estimating the real cost of providing care services for children who lack family care in Jordan, in addition to providing recommendations on promoting inclusion in family environments and the quality of support provided, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The study showed obtaining long-term benefits from alternative family care compared with staying in shelters, with better outcomes in all areas of child development including education and health, reduced contact with the criminal system, improved well-being, and more efficiency associated with expanding foster care.

The study recommended the development of a unified system for registering cases, providing an administrative database at the national level, and national administrative data that facilitate continuous monitoring and analysis of short- and long-term outputs, which can be linked or attributed to various types of integration and care.

The study also recommended building the necessary infrastructure to strengthen the alternative family care system to abolish excessive dependence or resort to care institutions, thus expanding the scope of alternative family care, and making amendments to the current alternative family care system and related alternative family care practices to support children and their alternative caregivers.

The amendments should include an accreditation system for alternative families and specialists, establishing mechanisms that enhance the stability of specialists without repeating their transfer to other units, facilitating the gathering of the expert workforce and building on the institutional memory related to it, to ensure the provision of high-quality alternative care, and the need to increase the official appropriation for the programme, which currently stands at JD100,000.

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