UN General Assembly A/RES/64/14223 Feb 2010

The Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children were endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly on 20 November 2009. They are intended to enhance the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. 

They are designed for wide dissemination among all sectors directly or indirectly concerned with issues relating to alternative care, and seek in particular:

(a) To support efforts to keep children in, or return them to, the care of their family or, failing this, to find another appropriate and permanent solution, including adoption and kafala of Islamic law;
(b) To ensure that, while such permanent solutions are being sought, or in cases where they are not possible or are not in the best interests of the child, the most suitable forms of alternative care are identified and provided, under conditions that promote the child’s full and harmonious development;
(c) To assist and encourage Governments to better implement their responsibilities and obligations in these respects, bearing in mind the economic, social and cultural conditions prevailing in each State; and
(d) To guide policies, decisions and activities of all concerned with social protection and child welfare in both the public and the private sectors, including civil society.