This report examines how India’s child protection laws interact with disability legislations, highlighting areas where greater focus is required to bring consonance to ensure that the rights of children with disabilities in need of care and protection are upheld.

This study compares child custody and guardianship norms in classical Islamic jurisprudence and modern codifications, focusing on Indonesia’s Compilation of Islamic Law and related laws in selected ASEAN and European countries. It finds that integrating the “best interests of the child” with Islamic legal reasoning through maqāṣid al-sharīʿah can promote child protection and gender equity, offering insights for legal reform in plural societies.

This book offers a comparative analysis of child and youth welfare systems across eight European countries, highlighting how diverse legal, historical, and institutional contexts shape responses to young people with complex support needs. Through contributions from researchers and practitioners, it reveals shared tensions—such as care versus control and participation versus coercion—while providing a multi-perspective foundation for transnational learning and policy reflection.

This technical brief describes how climate change is a child protection crisis that disproportionately affects children in East Asia and the Pacific, driving displacement, family separation, violence, and overwhelming already-strained protection services. Investing in climate-resilient child protection systems strengthens families and communities to prevent and respond to climate-related risks, while ensuring climate adaptation efforts are more effective, inclusive, and sustainable.

This paper critically examines India’s child protection framework, highlighting that despite comprehensive legislation like the JJ Act, POCSO, and programs such as Mission Vatsalya, systemic gaps in implementation, funding, institutional capacity, and data collection leave millions of children—particularly those in Child Care Institutions (CCIs)—vulnerable to abuse, neglect, and child marriage.

This article presents a comparative analysis of the Czech Republic and Colombia’s implementation of the United Nations Guidelines for Alternative Family Care. Based on secondary data, it identifies a shared adherence to the UN framework; a strong Czech system for alternative caregivers’ selection, training and support; a deep ethical commitment of Colombian foster families to ensure children’s well-being, despite limited resources; and the relevance of supporting parents at risk of having their children removed from their care and integrating the effects of unplanned migration into alternative care strategies.

This article examines how gendered power dynamics influence restorative approaches to child protection, showing that traditional practices can marginalize children, especially girls and gender-diverse individuals. It highlights the potential for restorative justice to be transformed into a more inclusive and equitable system that addresses harm while challenging systemic power imbalances.

Alarmingly high numbers of Ugandan children experience or are at risk of experiencing abuse and neglect. This article analyzes the state of priority for and quality of governance of Uganda’s formal system for the care of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC).

This paper examines the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, and its regulations in the context of child care institutions (CCIs) in Odisha, focusing on the role of CCI staff in supporting institutionalized children through the child welfare committee. Findings from a qualitative study of three children’s homes in Balangir district indicate that staff often fail to address children’s emotional and psychological needs, highlighting the importance of staff training to effectively fulfill duties under the Juvenile Justice Act.

This article reviews the political factors shaping orphan and vulnerable children (OVC) care systems in low-income countries, highlighting weak governance, limited political commitment, and heavy dependence on external actors. It introduces a social science–based framework of eight key factors—spanning policymaking, governance, and context—to guide research and strengthen OVC care systems.