State Voices,Shared Goals: Family Strengthening at the National Family Summit 2025

Abstract

India is entering a promising new phase in its child protection journey. With growing recognition that children thrive in safe, nurturing families, policy reforms are aligning more closely with this vision. This shift calls for collective action—from governments, civil society organisations (CSOs), children and youth with lived experiences, communities and families—to ensure that children are not just placed in families, but are safe, supported and thriving within families. The National Family Summit 2025, anchored by Miracle Foundation India, brought together key stakeholders from government, civil society and philanthropic sectors to spotlight collaboration as the cornerstone of child protection reform in India. The summit highlighted how multi-level partnerships are turning policy intent into system-wide action. This article draws on insights from the summit and the preceding Leadership Dialogues, showcasing how collaboration is enabling family strengthening (FS) and family-based alternative care (F-BAC) across macro (national/state), mezzo (district) and micro (community/household) levels. A central focus of this article is on the state-led presentations that offered powerful case studies demonstrating how government–CSO partnerships have started the data-driven planning, and community engagement is improving reintegration outcomes, preventing unnecessary separation and building long-term family support systems. While challenges remain—such as fragmented coordination, complexities of transitioning care systems, lack of data and evidence, capacity gaps, systemic inconsistencies and emerging barriers in practice, the article outlines a roadmap for sustaining early progress, including institutionalising cross-sector collaboration, embedding inclusive practices and scaling peer learning.