Portugal

Published jointly with UNICEF, this new BCN Working Paper focuses on the role of gatekeeping in strengthening family-based care and reforming alternative care systems. This Working Paper reviews different approaches to gatekeeping in five countries--Brazil, Bulgaria, Indonesia, Moldova, and Rwanda--to consider what has and has not worked, to analyze lessons learned from practice, and to reflect on the implications for improving policy and programs in this area.

This short video entitled "The Village" documents the work that Care for Children has done in Luquan, Kunming in China to help transition children away from orphanages and into families. Fifty three families from the village in Luquan have taken in 166 orphans--almost all of whom have physical or mental disabilities--from the Kunming orphanage. These children are now living with families and receiving the love and contact they had not previously received in the orphanage. 

This thesis by Brian Babington, submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of The Australian National University, uses a discourse analysis methodology to shed light on deinstitutionalisation policymaking in Indonesia. In examining the factors that led Indonesia to adopt a policy to reduce reliance on the panti asuhan type of children's institution, the dissertation reveals that Indonesia appears to have adopted this policy change not primarily as a result of concern for children's rights, but rather because of political, economic, cultural, and religious factors. It also explores how the policy shift attempted to appease both pro-reform and pro-panti asuhan groups. 

This article discusses a new set of standards for orphanages that the Cambodian Ministry of Social Affairs plans to begin enforcing. The new standards (known as the sub-decree on the management of residential care centers) are part of an effort to move towards family- and community-based care rather than institutionalization.

In this short video, BBC News interviews Gramboute Ibrahima, a local social worker who helps child trafficking victims in Abengourou, Ivory Coast. His organisation, CREER, has opened the region's first centre to help rehabilitate trafficked children. Almost every country in the world is affected by human trafficking. Children are particularly at risk, often sold across borders to work in brothels or on farms. 

While data indicates that the use of corporal punishment by schools has declined significantly in recent years, the practice is still in use for tens of thousands of public school students in the United States. Many activists and parent groups are demanding that the practice be outlawed in schools. 

The Fatherhood Research and Practice Network (FRPN) will soon release its second request for proposals (RFP) for evaluations of fatherhood programs. The RFP will be released on 2 January 2016, and the purpose of grants is to increase the number and quality of evaluations of fatherhood programs and learn more about how to better serve low-income fathers, racial/ethnic minorities, and other under-studied populations.

The University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration (SSA), in collaboration with Chapin Hall, an independent policy research center affiliated with the University of Chicago, seeks candidates for the Harold A. Richman Postdoctoral Fellowship Program. This program is aimed at strengthening the intellectual and research qualifications of outstanding scholars interested in applied research careers focusing on child, youth, and family well-being.

Save the Children is recruiting for the position of OVC Advisor, Child Protection.  

The Building Evidence Interest Group (BEIG) of the Global Social Service Workforce Alliance is seeking a consultant or consulting team.