Indonesia, the world’s fourth most populous country, has taken positive steps to develop its social welfare system. Despite this, child welfare services continue to be underfunded and lack capacity, and children removed from parental care are commonly placed in institutions. Children with disabilities are at particular risk of institutionalisation.

Despite these challenges, progress is being made. A Perkins partner programme based in Java provides an example of how a multisectoral approach, involving both the education and social care sectors, can enable inclusive education and care reform as mutually reinforcing processes. It also highlights how institution staff can be trained and redeployed to other types of services as part of a care reform process.