This article advances a greater understanding of the views, perceptions and experiences of caregivers caring for abandoned infants and toddlers living in institutional care in South Africa, on the basis of information obtained from 15 participants interviewed through semi-structured interviews in this qualitative study. Understanding their views, perceptions and experiences provides vital information to develop social work practices.

Institutional rearing negatively impacts the development of children's social skills and executive functions (EF). However, little is known about whether childhood social skills mediate the effects of the foster care intervention (FCG) and foster caregiving quality following early institutional rearing on EF and social skills in adolescence. Participants included abandoned children from Romanian institutions

Elli Oswald, Executive Director of the Faith to Action Initiative, reconsiders the best ways American churches can serve some of the world’s most vulnerable children and honor them as image bearers of God.

In this review, the authors detail the extent to which early deprivation affects mental health during vulnerable developmental periods, the capacity of family-based care to facilitate recovery from early deprivation, and the mechanisms underpinning these effects spanning social–emotional, cognitive, stress, and neurobiological domains.

Produced with KESCA, ‘Myths vs Reality’ highlights some of the key misconceptions associated with voluntourism, including how this could unintentionally support institution-related trafficking.

The purpose of this study was to ascertain the traumatic experiences endured by children in institutional care in Kiambu County, Kenya. The target population for this study was all children in 50 registered institutions of care within Kiambu County aged between 11 and 17 years.

This study investigated the prevalence of and factors associated with complete mental health (CMH) among a nationally representative sample of Canadians who had contact with child welfare services before age 16.

Institutional childcare is associated with developmental delays and setbacks. Since alternative options are not always available, it is important to investigate youth in institutional settings to evaluate how to provide optimal care.

Removal from family of origin to state care can be a highly challenging childhood experience and is itself linked to an array of unfavourable outcomes in adult life. This systematic review which included Canada, the US, western Europe, and Australia, aimed to synthetise evidence on the risk of adult mortality in people with a history of state care in early life, and assess the association according to different contexts. 

Child welfare and juvenile justice placed youths show high levels of psychosocial burden and high rates of mental disorders. It remains unclear how mental disorders develop into adulthood in these populations. The aim of this study, based on adolescents in Swiss residential care, was to present the rates of mental disorders in adolescence and adulthood in child welfare and juvenile justice samples and to examine their mental health trajectories from adolescence into adulthood.