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Under the IPA III/2023/440-638 project funded by the European Union, UNICEF in collaboration with Ministry of Family and Social Services will build on and contribute to Türkiye’s national care reform agenda towards de-institutionalization and promotion of community and family-based alternative care.
For every child, inclusivity
Background:
Currently, in the national alternative care system, only long-term foster care options are available, meaning that a child needing urgent alternative care can only be placed in residential care. As part of the Project's goals, an ‘emergency/temporary foster care model’ will be developed and piloted to address this gap, in which children can be provided with a family-based form of alternative care for the shortest time necessary, until they can be safely reintegrated with their families or until the most suitable of alternative care is determined in their best interest. Making this model available can also promote family-like environment as a highly adequate alternative care option for optimum development and well-being of a child.
Despite the critical importance of psychosocial support (PSS) in fostering the emotional and psychological well-being of children and their caregivers, the current system lacks a structured PSS package tailored specifically for foster care. Without such a framework, children, foster families, and the personnel supporting them face significant challenges. For children, this gap means limited access to specialized support during critical moments, such as placement into foster families, return with biological families, or transitions out of care. For foster families, it means navigating the complexities of caregiving with little formal guidance. For personnel, the absence of structured tools and resources hinders their ability to effectively guide families and children through these processes.
The absence of a psychosocial support framework within Türkiye’s foster care system creates challenges at multiple levels. For children, the transition into a foster family can be emotionally overwhelming, and without adequate support, their adjustment and overall well-being may be compromised. Foster families, meanwhile, often encounter difficulties in understanding and addressing the complex needs of children who have experienced trauma or instability. Additionally, foster care workforce supporting families and children may lack the structured tools and guidance necessary to manage sensitive processes, such as post-placement monitoring, handling transitions, and preparing children for reunification with their biological families or other long-term care solutions.
Developing a comprehensive PSS guidebook is critical to addressing these challenges. Such a resource would not only support children’s well-being but also empower foster families to create nurturing environments and enable personnel to provide professional, standardized guidance. This guidebook would fill a significant gap, creating a foundation for a consistent, evidence-based approach to psychosocial support in foster care.
This consultancy seeks to develop a comprehensive, user-friendly psychosocial support (PSS) guidebook tailored to the needs of Türkiye’s foster care system. The guidebook will address the psychosocial needs of children, provide foster families with practical tools and strategies, and enhance the capacity of staff to offer professional guidance throughout the foster care journey. By focusing on the well-being of children and their caregivers, the guidebook will contribute to the overall goals of the national care reform agenda and support the transition to a more family-centered care model.
The guidebook will aim to:
- Provide a structured framework for addressing the psychosocial needs of children in foster care.
- Equip foster families with practical, culturally relevant guidance to support children effectively.
- Enhance the capacity of personnel to manage critical processes, such as placement, post-placement support, and transitions, with a child-centered approach.
How can you make a difference?
The purpose of this consultancy is to develop a comprehensive and practical Psychosocial Support (PSS) Guidebook tailored to the needs of foster care system. The guidebook will serve as a structured resource to address the emotional, psychological, and social needs of children placed in foster care, while simultaneously equipping foster families and staff with the tools and knowledge required to provide effective and consistent support.
This consultancy aims to:
- Establish a structured, evidence-based approach to providing psychosocial support within the foster care system. The guidebook will act as a reference for managing critical stages such as placement, post-placement support, and transitions for children in care.
- Provide foster families with culturally relevant and age-appropriate strategies to support children’s psychosocial well-being, especially those who have experienced trauma or instability.
- Build the skills and knowledge of personnel to deliver targeted guidance to foster families and children, ensuring a professional and child-centered approach to foster care services.
- Support Türkiye’s national care reform by introducing a family-centered psychosocial support model as part of the broader transition to community and family-based care.
*Delivery dates are tentative. Detailed time plan is required together with the technical proposal.
The consultancy will consist of developing tailored guidance materials, such as mentoring guidebooks and training resources, to support foster families. The materials developed can also be used as reference by staff assigned to foster care cases. In this regard, the consultant is expected to coordinate with relevant stakeholders, including foster families and staff, and facilitate consultation meetings to ensure their feedback on what is working is incorporated into a formalized standard of quality care (regulation including terms of reference, roles and responsibilities, etc). Furthermore, as the materials are finalized, it will be important to test them through a select group of master trainers and mentoring candidates, who will then pilot the mentoring technique in selected provinces. The consultancy will help establish an initial framework that can be built on and sustained. The overall objective is that the foundational framework will provide foster carers with peer-to-peer guidance, to strengthen their resilience and capability in providing high-quality temporary care for children in need.
Duty Station: To be based in Turkiye - remote work modality with the possibility of field visits to several provinces..
Supervisor: Child Protection Specialist, NOC.
Estimated Duration and Cost of Consultancy:
Duration: 12 May 2025 to 15 September 2025 (44 days within this period). All-inclusive fees, including lump sum travel and subsistence costs.
Estimated Cost of Consultancy: Applicants shall present a detailed financial proposal that elaborates on daily costs based on the above-mentioned programme and deliverables, including the total sum demanded in TRY. All costs, including travel, accommodation, administrative tools, communications, etc. shall be covered by the consultant/s in line with their daily fee.
Payment: UNICEF will issue a contract in TRY. The payment will be made in instalments upon deliverables as per the contractual agreement and will be executed in TRY.
Payment Schedule: UNICEF will issue a contract in TRY. The payment will be made in instalments upon deliverables as per the contractual agreement and will be executed in TRY.
Reservations: UNICEF reserves the right to terminate the contract and/or withhold all or a portion of payment if the rules and the regulations regarding confidentiality, ethics and procedures of UNICEF and the partners are not followed, the performance is unsatisfactory, or work/deliverables are incomplete, not delivered or fail to meet the deadlines.
The consultant must respect the confidentiality of the information handled during the assignment. Documents and information provided must be used only for the tasks related to these terms of reference.
The assessment report and deliverables will remain the copyright of UNICEF and UNICEF is free to adapt or modify them in the future. The consultant may not use the data, products or seek endorsements for their own purposes, nor license the data to be used by others, without the written consent of UNICEF.
To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…
Qualifications:
- PhD degree in Social Work, Psychology, Child Protection, or a related field. Additional certifications or training in mentoring, peer support, or community-based protection are an advantage.
- Minimum of 5 years of experience in child protection, alternative care systems, or family-based care, preferably with a focus on foster care. Previous experience in designing and implementing PSS programs is highly valued.
- Demonstrated ability to coordinate with various stakeholders, government agencies, and foster carers, to develop and implement support programs.
- Expertise and experience in creating structured support and mentoring programs, including developing training materials, and assessment tools.
- Proficiency in designing and applying monitoring tools, data collection methods, and evaluation techniques to assess program outcomes.
Skills and personal traits:
- Strong communication skills, both written and verbal, to effectively convey program concepts, provide training, and prepare reports in English and Turkish.
- Ability to facilitate workshops, focus groups, and training sessions for various audiences.
- In-depth understanding of the cultural dynamics in Türkiye’s foster care system and sensitivity to the unique needs of foster families and children.
- A strong sense of understanding for the challenges faced by foster carers and the children in their care.
- Ability to proactively identify challenges within the mentoring program and propose practical, effective solutions.
- Flexibility to adjust to evolving project needs, feedback from stakeholders, and unexpected challenges.
*After the selection process the consultant will be expected to complete the mandatory UNICEF AGORA Trainings.
Application and Selection Criteria
Please note that the assignment can only be held by an individual consultant. Applications should be submitted in English and should include:
- Financial proposal using the Financial Proposal Template,
Financial Offer- PSS.docx
- Most recent CV (TMS Profile)
- Sample of relevant work developed by the consultant.
Financial proposals should be submitted in separate folders from the remaining documentation. After the technical evaluation, the financial proposals of qualified candidates will be evaluated. The technical evaluation will be completed based on the attached technical evaluation criteria.
The applications will be evaluated from the technical and financial point of view. Technical aspects will be evaluated using the criteria outlined in the below matrix:
The financial proposals will be opened only for the candidates that reach or exceed forty-nine (49) points out of maximum seventy (70) points. Thirty (30) points will be awarded to the candidate that presented the lowest fee for the services requested. The remaining financial offers will receive proportional points ([lowest bid/bid] x 30 points).
ToR- for IPA-III Foster Care -PSS package 17 April.docx
For every Child, you demonstrate…
UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS). To view our competency framework, please visit here. UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic. UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants/individual contractors with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment. UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.
Remarks: Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.
Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws. The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts.
