This presentation to the 2012 Sofia Conference by Darinka Yankova, Deputy Chairperson of the State Agency for Child Protection addresses the challenges and the new vision for the deinstitutionalization of children in the Republic of Bulgaria.

This presentation to the 2012 Sofia Conference by Valentina Buliga, Minister of Labor in Moldova, Social Protection and Family, introduces Moldova's ongoing collaboration between the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Labor to reduce infant mortality and the placement of children under the age of 3 in institutions.

This presentation to the 2012 Sofia conference by Irakli Nadareishvili, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Labor Health and Social Affairs of Georgia, highlights the key initiatives of the deinstitutionalization and childcare system reform launched by Georgia in 2005, as well as the challenges faced in this process.

This data pack, produced by the Department for Education, aims to summarize national data about children who leave care aged 16 and over and outcomes of care leavers at age 19. The pack was also developed to help local authorities to compare their performance with others and to investigate issues such as age of leaving care and placement stability on the outcomes of care leavers.

Promotes and provides inter-agency information management tools for a coordinated approach to child protection particularly in regards to separated children, children associated with armed groups and forces and other especially vulnerable children.

The Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare (MGECW) of Namibia released the 2012 Foster Care Standards and Guidelines which are aimed to guide social workers and other service providers in recruiting, assessing, training, matching, supporting, supervising and monitoring foster care services. The Foster Care Guidelines assist in translating the Standards into day-to-day practices. These Standards and Guidelines with accompanying training manuals were prepared to strengthen supported family-based care for vulnerable and marginalized children.

This Charter lists the promises that care leavers want the central and local governments to make. The Charter for Care Leavers is designed to raise expectations, aspirations and understanding of what care leavers need and what the government and local authorities should do to be good “Corporate Parents.”

The study explores the post-care experiences of young Jordanian care leavers. Material struggles were similar to peers internationally. The distinct difference for Arab care leavers was the cultural influence. Patriarchy, family life and collectivism impact the care leavers' experiences. A cultural dimension increases understanding of leaving-care.

Foster youth in the US do not appear to be receiving many forms of help that are called for in federal law. Over one-third did not receive help they would have liked to have received. System factors play a stronger role than individual indicators of need in help receipt. Independent living services should be more widely available and better targeted.

The authors of this article carried out a follow-up study of 143 young adults leaving kinship care. They assessed the young adults’ transition to adulthood with interviews and questionnaires. A small part of the sample presented serious problems of social exclusion. Seventy percent had found employment or were in higher education. The youth had frequently suffered the loss of foster carers and lack of support.