Child Care and Protection Policies

Child care and protection policies regulate the care of children, including the type of support and assistance to be offered, good practice guidelines for the implementation of services, standards for care, and adequate provisions for implementation. They relate to the care a child receives at and away from home.

States and all organisations with child care programmes should have child care policies which are in line with national legislation and international law, e.g. the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). In line with the CRC, emphasis should be placed on the child’s best interests, with support to families prioritised in order to prevent family separation. Good gatekeeping mechanisms are essential in ensuring families receive the services they need and are entitled to, and to guard against inappropriate placement into poor care arrangements.

Home-based care, day care, and other family support services are mechanisms for assisting families in providing for the child’s development and, when used appropriately, can prevent child separation. When a child is unable to remain at home, alternative forms of community based care should be prioritised, such as formal kinship care or foster care. The use of institutions should be highlighted as a last and temporary measure. All support and care provisions should outline the referral and admission process, the use of care plans, regular reviews, rehabilitation, and aftercare procedures.

Child protection legislation which recognises that abuse can be physical, emotional, sexual, or neglect, and may be carried out by parents, caretakers, children and other adults is required. All agencies working with children should have written child protection policies which respect the rights of the child. Policies should outline behaviours and actions which are unacceptable, provide standards for the appropriate care of children, and clear guidelines on what procedures to follow and by whom, including reporting mechanisms for suspected abuse to an assigned authority for investigation.

Child care and protection policies require resources and monitoring of standards to ensure their appropriate implementation. Adequate provision and training of child care and social work staff is required to deliver family support services and alternatives forms of child care. All staff working with children should be trained and supervised in providing appropriate care for children, identifying abuse, and responding appropriately.

The literature in this section contains country reports and examples of national and organisational child care and protection policies.

Displaying 1371 - 1380 of 1807

Browse Other Topics

Experiences of orphan care in Amach, Uganda: assessing policy implications

Christopher Oleke, Astrid Blystad, Ole Bjørn Rekdal & Karen Marie Moland - Journal of Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS, 28 Feb 2012

This paper presents findings from a study on the experiences of orphan care among Langi people of Amach sub-county in Lira District, northern Uganda, and discusses their policy implications.

“I Don't Know What They Know”: Knowledge transfer in mandated referral from child welfare to early intervention

April D. Allen, Justeen Hyde, Laurel K. Leslie - Children and Youth Services Review, 21 Feb 2012

Knowledge transfer is highlighted in this paper as a conceptual framework to understand mandated referral to Early Intervention (EI) services for young children with open child welfare cases.

View Article

The economic burden of child maltreatment in the United States and implications for prevention

Xiangming Fang, Derek S. Brown, Curtis S. Florence, James A. Mercy , 01 Feb 2012

This paper presents new estimates of the average lifetime cost per child maltreatment (CM) victim in the United States and aggregate lifetime costs for all new cases of CM incurred in 2008 using an incidence-based approach. The authors find that the lifetime economic burden of CM is approximately $124 billion. Given this substantial economic burden, the authors argue that the benefits of prevention will likely outweigh the costs for effective programs.

View Article

Child Rights in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia: Keeping Families Together: Making social protection more effective for children

Peroline Ainsworth, Elena Gaia, Anna Nordenmark Severinsson, 2012

This edition of Insights produced by UNICEF summarizes the findings and recommendations of studies on the impact and outreach of social protection systems in Albania, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine where high rates of child placement in formal care still persist. The research offers important insight into the weaknesses and challenges faced by social protection systems in the region, but also point to ways in which policy-makers might maximise the impact of social protection systems in order to ‘keep families together’.

Child Abandonment and its Prevention in Europe: Hungarian Language Summary Brochure

University of Nottingham, UK, 2012

This document is a Hungarian language summary brochure of the Manual of Good Practice titled ‘Child Abandonment and its Prevention in Europe,’ specific to child abandonment in Hungary.

Measuring and Monitoring Child Protection Systems - Proposed Regional Core Indicators for East Asia and the Pacific

UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Regional Office (EAPRO), 2012

This publication proposes a framework of core indicators for measuring and monitoring national child protection systems in the East Asia and Pacific region.

Child Abandonment and its Prevention in Europe: Bulgarian Language Summary Brochure

University of Nottinghman, 2012

This document is a Bulgarian language summary brochure of the Manual of Good Practice titled ‘Child Abandonment and its Prevention in Europe,’ specific to child abandonment in Bulgaria.

Child Abandonment and its Prevention in Europe: UK Summary Brochure

University of Nottingham, UK, 2012

This document is an English language summary brochure of the Manual of Best Practice titled ‘Child Abandonment and its Prevention in Europe,’ specific to child abandonment in the UK.

State of the World's Children 2012: Children in an Urban World

UNICEF, 2012

This report provides data on children living in urban settings, including statistics, conditions, and personal testimonies. The report also includes UNICEF’s recommendations for policy regarding children in urban settings, working with this population, and for future action. Sections that are relevant to children’s care include: children living and working on the streets, migrant children, urban emergencies, and many more.

De-institutionalisation of Services for Children in State are in Ireland: A Case Study of International Relevance

Robert H. Gilligan - Social Work Forum, 2012

This paper describes Ireland’s successful implementation of a policy of de-institutionalization of out-of-home care for children.