Our Care System

Children in war bear a heavy burden of stress that doesn't cease to exist when they reach safety. To address this unseen crisis, we’re developing a system of care with children and youth at the very centre.

Improving children’s lives

The War Child Care System is an integrated suite of interventions aimed at improving the wellbeing of children and youth affected by conflict. Grown out of more than 25 years of experience working with children in war zones, it enables us to meet children’s varying needs - all according to the highest standards of humanitarian care.

Through a combination of psychosocial support, child protection and education, the care system supports children to take their lives into their own hands and regain trust in themselves and others. Used together, these methods complement and reinforce one another, ensuring that as many children as possible can benefit from the support on offer.

Improving the world around them

In fact, the Care System goes one step further - tackling the wider impact of violence such as the increase in child abuse, lack of specialist mental health care or breakdown of educational systems.

This sees us engage families, caregivers and other trusted adults in the care process, helping us build protective communities that promote children’s rights.

In this way, the Care System becomes part of the social fabric - its interventions can be carried out by the community itself.

Setting new standards

The work that we do is based on humanitarian best practices - but we don’t stop there. Our researchers scientifically test a growing number of our innovations so that we can prove their positive impact on children and youth.

In the chaos of conflict there are rarely clear cut solutions. But by growing this body of evidence, we can attract a network of expert partners and ultimately reach millions more children with quality support.

Discover our care system methods and scientific research below.