Whole Child International is a U.S.-based non-governmental organization (NGO) founded in 2004. Whole Child focuses on improving the quality of care for vulnerable children worldwide by working within childcare institutions and orphanages.

Whole Child International is devoted to improving the lives of orphaned, abandoned, abused, and neglected children worldwide. They work to restructure existing children’s institutions to focus on children’s emotional needs, ultimately creating the possibility for healthy integration into society

Through partnerships with leading academics, technique innovators, and local service providers, Whole Child International brings the latest research and innovative training to care providers in the most resource-challenged regions in the world. While the staggering numbers of institutionalized children might seem overwhelming, Whole Child International is developing cost-effective and replicable models of intervention for maximum impact and reach.

Implementation

In every country of service, they begin by working with national government leaders to sensitize them to the importance of best-practice-based childcare. They forge an agreement to provide services in exchange for regulatory support toward the implementation of the practices that form the core of their work. After an agreement has been reached they begin to implement a four-pronged approach to improving the quality of childcare nationally.

Selected initial implementation

Working in carefully chosen pilot sites allows us to address the needs of high-need children and provides a demonstration and training site for apprentice trainers, local academics, and other stakeholders. 

Creation of local capacity

 By hiring local staff and aggressively transferring knowledge and skills from our experts from day one, they expedite the process of creating a corps of local staff skilled at implementation. 

Creation of local academic expertise

Engaging with local academic institutions is central to their work. They have created a 30-session early childhood course specifically for the developing world. Working with two U.S. universities, Loyola Marymount University and the University of California, Davis, we engage with local academics who receive in-classroom training and contribute to program implementation in children's centers.

Regulatory support

Government support is critical to the sustainability and scalability of their work, and magnifies the impact of their intervention. They begin by ensuring that our best-practice-based principles are reflected in the framework that regulates childcare in each country, and over time help to ensure that the principles are applied across systems of care for orphaned, abandoned, and other vulnerable children.