The new Global Charter on Children’s Care Reform is a powerful step toward a world where every child can grow up in a safe, loving home.
The UK Foreign and Commonwealth office has launched a new international charter setting out new standards for care systems. Here’s what this means for street-connected children.
Author: Con Enzler | Date: 13th October 2025
We believe that every child deserves a safe, loving family. This isn’t just our mission—it’s the fundamental right of every child.
The UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) has launched a powerful new Global Charter on Children’s Care Reform, setting out a new standard for care systems.
We’ve joined hundreds of organisations and a growing number of national governments, in signing this charter to reaffirm our commitment to advocating for children to be placed in safe, nurturing family care.
This is a landmark moment that aligns with our mission to ensure every child grows up in a safe family-based environment.
The charter’s core principles are clear:
These principles are not new to us – they’re at the heart of our work.
Institutions can cause significant harm to a child’s development. We know the best place for a child is always within a family, whether it’s their own or an alternative family that can provide the love and care they need.
Supporting family reintegration over institutional care has always been a key principle of our work.
When a child has no option but to survive on the streets, we know that very often things have gone badly wrong at home. There are many reasons that drive family separation, including family breakdown, violence and abuse, and poverty.
Children in these situations end up living on the streets, being trapped in exploitative situations, or they end up in institutions.
That’s not good enough for us. So we work hard to reunite children with their families and support them to address whatever issues caused the separation in the first place.
But our first priority is for children to be safe and loved, so if issues at home are too challenging, we’ll find a relative or friend who can step in. We are proud that about a third of the families we support in Tanzania and many of those we support in India, are kinship carers.
Though this therapeutic and practical approach, we help ensure children feel safe, nurtured and supported as part of a family home.
We know that our family-first approach creates the best outcomes for children on the streets, and for all children having to survive outside of family care, including the millions of children in institutions across the world.
That’s why we are delighted to endorse the Global Charter.
For over a decade, Railway Children Africa has been a leader in Tanzania’s care reform journey.
We have worked alongside the Tanzanian government in the National Alternative Care Technical Working Group to help develop a national roadmap for care reform.
This work ensures that we are not just helping one child at a time but are fundamentally changing the system for generations to come. The FCDO charter now gives this work a powerful new voice and a global platform.
Through our flagship youth participation programme, Youth Platform, young people are shaping our training materials, influencing key decisions and ensuring the rail industry truly understand youth vulnerability.
More than 25 million Tanzanians are living in extreme poverty, leaving many young women and girls vulnerable to hunger, family breakdown, and abuse.
Since launching in 2018, Railway Children’s Night at the Station has raised more than £880,000 to reach and protect some of the world’s most vulnerable children. This year, the charity is aiming to surpass the £1m mark – and is calling on the rail community and individual supporters to help reach the target.
As the UK marks Neurodiversity Week (16th – 20th March), we reflect on the unique strengths different minds bring to Railway Children, the rich potential of the neurodivergent young people we support and why we’ve established a Neurodiversity Working Group to ensure every kind of mind can thrive.
In India, Railway Children is reaching some of the most vulnerable young people through a powerful and proven approach: peer leadership.
Read our guide to claiming your compensation and learn how to easily donate it to vulnerable children.
