Hope and Homes for Children

EU Legislative Interests

Hope and Homes for Children seeks to ensure that the legal and policy frameworks of the EU, including the financing instruments deployed internally and externally, prevent the separation of children from their families, promote the transition from institutional to family and community-based care for children, and exclude investment in the maintenance, construction or refurbishment of institutional care facilities. Hope and Homes for Children actively follow all EU files that that may affect these priorities across the world, with a particular emphasis on the following: - The negotiations around the next Multiannual Financial Framework 2028-2032 - The implementation and evaluation of key instruments of the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework, and new financial instruments for internal and external funding. This includes the European Commission proposals for the Common Provision Regulations (COM(2018) 375 final), European Regional Development Fund (COM(2018) 372 final), the European Social Fund Plus (COM(2018) 382 final), the Instrument for Pre-Accession III (COM(2018) 465 final) and the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (COM(2018) 460 final) -The implementation of the Ukraine Facility Regulation -The Implementation of the Reform and Growth Facility for Moldova Regulation - The Implementation of the EU Guidelines for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of the Child (2017). - The EU Strategy on the Rights of the Child (2021-24) and Child Guarantee - The EU Disability Rights Strategy for 2021-30 - The post-Cotonou process and the resulting new agreement between the EU and the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States - The implementation of the new European Consensus for Development, particularly regarding child rights. - The implementation of the new EU Roma strategic framework for equality, inclusion and participation for 2020 - 2030 - The implementation of the EU Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy for the period of 2020-2027 In the past year, HHC has provided input to key EU policies, legislation and processes, including: - Report on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on establishing the Reform and Growth Facility for the Republic of Moldova 31.1.2025 - (COM(2024)0469 – C10‑0127/2024 – 2024/0258(COD)) - The EC Enlargement Package – Ukraine and Moldova; - The EU-Ukraine Human Rights Dialogue - The European Commission public consultation on EU’s next long-term budget (MFF) – EU funding for external action; - The European Commission public consultation on EU’s next long-term budget (MFF) – EU funding for internal action; - DG INTPA Consultation of CSOs and LAs on EU regional programming for Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) (2021-2027) – Focus AAP 2025

Communication Activities

Hope and Homes for Children is a leading partner of the regional initiative Transform Alliance Africa (http://transformallianceafrica.org/). It brings together 14 partner organisations, representing seven countries, committed to a vision of an Africa free of institutional care, where all children belong and grow up in safe and loving families. Its mission is to be the catalyst to end institutional care of children in Africa by bringing together the partners’ collective voices, knowledge, practice and experience to strengthen families. Through the Alliance, Hope and Homes for Children provide support for partners to convene key stakeholders – including government agencies – in their own countries to negotiate buy-in to national deinstitutionalisation reform. Hope and Homes for Children was also a founding partner of the Opening Doors for Europe’s Children (2013-2019; http://www.openingdoors.eu/). The campaign aimed to develop child protection systems that strengthen families and ensure family and community-based alternative care for children. It achieves this by leveraging EU policy and funding and by building advocacy capacity in civil society. The campaign ran across 16 European countries. It contributed to significant breakthroughs across a number of EU countries – particularly, the inclusion of deinstitutionalisation as one of the priorities for the use of European Structural and Investment Funds. In the past year, Hope and Homes for Children has co-organised the following events: - Launch of Reforming Child Protection and Care in EU accession, Toolkit for EU Institutions and Delegations Staff, DG ENEST, European Commission, 14 May 2025 - Round Table Child Protection and Care Reform in Moldova Through EU Accession, organised together with European Parliament Vice President Victor Negrescu, European Parliament, 25 June 2025 - Reception Launch of Recommendations to the EU on the reform of Ukraine’s child protection and care system of the Ukraine International Advocacy Task Force, co-organised with Lumos and MEP Hristo Petrov, European Parliament, 24 June 2025 Hope and Homes for Children has also produced and contributed to a number of publications, namely: - “Reforming Child Protection and Care in EU accession”, Toolkit for EU Institutions and Delegations Staff, co-written with Lumos with input and endorsement from Eurochild and Save the Children - Hope and Homes for Children with the European Expert Group on the Transition from Institutional to Community based care (2019) "Checklist to ensure EU-funded measures contribute to independent living by developing and ensuring access to family-based and community-based services" https://deinstitutionalisationdotcom.files.wordpress.com/2019/11/eeg_checklist_onlineoffice.pdf) - Hope and Homes for Children (2017) “End the silence: The case for the elimination of institutional care of children” (http://www.hopeandhomes.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/End-the-Silence-Policy-Paper-Final-Copy.pdf) - Joint Lumos-Hope and Homes for Children (2017) “Putting Child Protection and Family Care at the Heart of EU External Action”(http://www.hopeandhomes.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Putting-Child-Protection-and-Family-Care-at-the-Heart-of-EU-External-Action_.pdf) - Opening Doors for Europe’s Children campaign (2018) “Maintain, Strengthen, Expand: How the EU can support the transition from institutional to family and community-based care in the next multi-annual financial framework” (http://www.hopeandhomes.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Putting-Child-Protection-and-Family-Care-at-the-Heart-of-EU-External-Action_.pdf) Finally, it is the beneficiary of the following EU-funded projects (amounts shown were received in 2023): - European Commission (Rwanda) NDICI/CSO/2023/448-805 €132,045. - European Commission (Romania) POCU/74/6/18/105525 & POCU/74/6/18/104770 €123,009 - European Commission (Ukraine) (as a sub-grantee of Save The Children) ENI/2022/434-435) €523,461

Interests Represented

Does not represent commercial interests

Member Of

Hope and Homes for Children is an active member of various non-governmental platforms and coalitions, including Eurochild, the Children’s Rights Action Group (CRAG) and the Advisory Group of Better Care Network and Child Rights Connect. Hope and Homes for Children is also a member of Bond (https://www.bond.org.uk/) which gives it access to Concord (https://concordeurope.org/), the EU Alliance for Investing in Children, which brings together over 20 European networks sharing a commitment to end child poverty and to promote child well-being across Europe, and the Council of Europe Consultative Group on Ukraine Children. Hope and Homes for Children is a co-chair of Ukraine International Advocacy Task Force and Ukraine Children Care Working Group as well as a leading member of the regional initiative Transform Alliance Africa (http://transformallianceafrica.org/). In addition, Hope and Homes for Children is part of Child Rights Connect, a global network of international and national non-governmental organisations committed to ensuring that all children fully enjoy their rights as defined by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Furthermore, Hope and Homes has the special consultative status with ECOSOC United Nations. Hope and Homes for Children is also a member of the EU Policy Forum on Development, the Youth Dialogue Platform and the EU Network for Children’s Rights. Hope and Homes for Children is indirectly involved in the European Expert Group on the transition from Institutional to Community-based care (https://deinstitutionalisation.com/) through its partnership with Eurochild in the Opening Doors for Europe’s Children campaign. In its day to day work, Hope and Homes for Children is closely cooperating with some other organisations, including through the Child Rights Action Group (CRAG).

Organisation Members

Hope and Homes for Children has subsidiary organisations in Romania, Ukraine, South Africa, Kenya and Hong Kong: - Hope and Homes for Children Romania (registration number 1/23.01.2001 13661594) is established as a non-governmental organisation with the Ministry of Justice. - Hope and Homes for Children Ukraine (registration number 39224734) was established in 2014 as a charitable organisation. - One Child One Family HHCSA (registration number 2017/489514/08) was set up as a non-profit company in November 2017, and in 2021 was recognised as a public benefit organisation. - Hope and Homes for Children (Kenya) was established in July 2023 under the Non-Governmental Organizations Co-ordination Act (registration certificate No. OP.218/051/23-108/13162). - Hope and Homes for Children Asia Limited (registration number 3304708) was incorporated as a limited company in Hong Kong in August 2023.