The purpose of this manual is to introduce a set of common global indicators for children in formal care, which includes children living in institutional care or formally- arranged foster family care (whether with kin or families not previously known to the child family). This manual explains why this information is valuable and offers practical guidance on data collection.
Data on the situation of children in care should be regularly collected and analysed. This manual provides both the tools and analytical framework for gathering data. This is not necessarily done as a one-time exercise, but rather aims to develop an information system that will allow childcare agencies and local and national authorities to better monitor and improve the situation of children within care systems.