Around the world, more leaders, organizations and governments are recognizing something that both Scripture and decades of research continue to affirm: children need families. But why is this important, especially right now?
Some nations, like Kenya, are creating policies with deadlines that require charitable organizations to phase out residential programs for children. Others are seeing an increase in many of the factors that can push children toward alternative care, such as parental death or emergencies. Childhood is short, and if we know of better ways to support children and families, we should move toward them thoughtfully and faithfully.
Over the last couple of decades, the CAFO community has seen a growing movement away from an over-reliance on residential care as the primary solution for children in need of care, and a thoughtful shift toward family-based solutions like reintegration, kinship care, foster care and adoption.
This shift aligns with God’s design for children and is deeply hopeful, but also incredibly complex, said Dr. Nicole Wilke, director of the CAFO Research Center.
“When we know better, we do better. As a global child welfare community, we are learning that family is possible for children. Leaders of organizations providing residential care long to see children in their care raised in families, but aren’t sure how to do it or if it is even possible in their context. It can seem like a distant and far off dream.”
Organizational leaders considering moving toward family solutions for children are wrestling with difficult questions that don’t have quick or simple answers, like: Will children be safe in family care? What does sustainable change actually look like in our communities? How do we support children, families and staff well throughout that journey? Will donors continue to support this new model? What does this mean for the individuals we employ?
And maybe one of the biggest questions underneath it all: Where do we even start?
The complex path of care transition
A lot of people imagine care transition as one big emotional moment. Children running into the arms of their families. Organizations immediately transforming their models of care, and everyone celebrating together at the finish line.
“But in reality, it is a marathon, not a sprint,” Wilke said. “Care transition is not about closing orphanages, but rather about building family care options for children. As we move in the direction of family care for children, organizations currently providing residential care are key partners in developing family care solutions for children. Many are expanding their services to include family strengthening, reintegration and kinship care support, foster care, adoption and supported independent living.”
The transition process needs to begin long before a child ever moves into family care. Organizations need to ensure they have a strong foundation, with solid child protection, case management and organizational health practices in place. Awareness raising with staff, children, families, board members, government leaders and organizational partners will smooth the way for a successful transition.
In some cases, organizations may even need to reimagine how their existing spaces and staff can better support families.
“What was once an orphanage becomes a family strengthening center,” Wilke shared, “with a clinic, after-school programs and family activities on the weekends. Caregivers and staff could retrain as foster parents, social work paraprofessionals or after-school program leaders.”
And the process often moves far more slowly than anyone hopes.
Moving slowly brings everyone along in the process
One of the biggest mistakes organizations make when transitioning to family care is rushing the process.
“The more you work on bringing others along on the journey early on, the faster things tend to go later,” she said. “We want to jump straight to the action steps. But if people don’t understand why this matters or don’t feel part of the process, it typically creates challenges down the road.”
That mindset shift matters because transition isn’t simply about changing where a child lives, it’s about strengthening the systems surrounding children and families so they can flourish long term.
It also requires humility.
“There’s no expert in this space. We’re all learning together,” said Dalia Mena, care transition manager at CAFO.
Mena has seen this firsthand as she coaches leaders navigating care reform. “A lot of things are changing at the same time,” she said. “Systems are changing, people’s mindsets are changing and organizations are changing.”
That may sound surprising in a field full of training programs and policies, but leaders navigating care transition often describe a very real sense of isolation. Many feel they are standing alone, trying to make deeply important decisions while fearing they might get something wrong.
Mena said leaders carrying transition work alone often lose momentum, abandon the process too early or feel pressured to rush major decisions.
“Sometimes they feel like, ‘I can’t take this anymore,’” she said.
That isolation is one of the reasons the Care Transition Accelerator Academy (CTAA) at CAFO was created.
The impact of a care transition coach
In 2020, CAFO piloted the first Care Transition Accelerator Academy fellowship in response to a growing need for local leaders with contextualized knowledge who could walk alongside organizations undertaking care reform — not as distant experts, but as trusted guides who understand the culture, systems and challenges within their own regions.
CTAA is a two-year learning and coaching program designed to equip leaders to guide the transition from residential care to family-based solutions within their own communities and regions. Through training, coaching and applied learning, fellows build both the practical skills and relational support needed to walk alongside organizations engaged in this work.
The practicum is where much of the learning becomes real. According to Mena, the best part of the practicum is doing the coaching while being coached at the same time. Fellows are not simply learning technical processes — they are also learning to walk alongside leaders through uncertainty, complexity and change.
“We often overemphasize the technical side of care transition,” said Mena,” but the relational side is very important.”
During her practicum, Dalia said one of the most valuable aspects of coaching was creating space for leaders to openly and honestly process challenges.
“Sometimes they simply need a safe place to think out loud, reflect and work through solutions together,” Mena said.
After completing the academic portion of the program, fellows spend a year accompanying a real organization navigating transition. They learn how to facilitate difficult conversations, support organizations through uncertainty, help connect leaders with resources and think through the practical realities of transition in context.
“Coaching is a practical, relational process. We need not only to ask the right questions, but also to build trust and meet leaders where they are at,” Wilke said. “We don’t learn to walk alongside organizations in transition just by hearing someone else talk about it; we must jump in with both feet and experience it for ourselves. The victories and mistakes learned from in the practicum are priceless educational experiences for CTAA fellows.”
The practicum gives fellows the opportunity to apply what they are learning in real time while also receiving support themselves through coaching and peer collaboration. In many ways, the same support fellows are learning to offer others is also being modeled back to them.
Children thrive best in families
Across recent CTAA cohorts, fellows have supported organizations moving toward family-based solutions and strengthened local systems of care for vulnerable children and families. During one recent practicum cycle alone, more than 860 children moved toward family care through organizations connected to CTAA practicum efforts.
Still, Wilke is careful not to frame care transition as a quick fix or simple formula.
Many leaders serving in residential care have faithfully dedicated years of their lives to loving and supporting vulnerable children. Transition takes time, wisdom and patience. In some cases, it may take many years. But even in the complexity, there is hope, and the work moves one step at a time.
“God sets the lonely in families,” Wilke said. “We know family is His design for children, and He is doing a work to see children in loving, nurturing families, and families receiving the support they need to thrive. Because He loves us as His children, and despite the fact we bring nothing to this work that He didn’t give us, He invites us to participate in that work together.”
Be inspired by stories of care reform
In the coming weeks, we will share stories from several CTAA fellows serving in different parts of the world. Their experiences and challenges are different, but together their stories offer a clearer picture of what it really takes to transition care, and why no leader should have to do that work alone.
