Assessment of the alternative families system in Egypt

Since 2016, the Egyptian Government has made several changes in the Alternative Families System that aims to provide children without parental care, especially abandoned ones, with families. The study assesses this flagship programme using the UN Guidelines for Alternative Care for Children as the main guiding framework, combined with qualitative methodological approaches, based on a purposive sample of key informants, consisting of governmental officials, national and international organisations, using in-depth interviews as the main tool for data collection. On one hand, the state declares its responsibility towards children without parental care. Moreover, it involved the assembly of a new national committee for alternative families. On the other hand, there are limitations which affect the increasing number of abandoned children, such as the inability of unmarried mothers to register their children and thus find proper support. In addition there was the non-existence of preventive strategies such as families' rehabilitation programmes. Finally, negative societal stereotyping towards abandoned children was identified especially by government officials administering the programme. The study recommends reviewing the existing legal framework to ensure its proper execution through allocating financial resources, upgrading the existing human capital and related systems, and developing a national alternative care strategy.