This study examines Algeria’s use of kafala as a legally recognized alternative to adoption, highlighting its role in protecting the identity and citizenship rights of children of unknown parentage. While kafala aligns with Islamic principles and offers a protective framework, legal gaps, administrative barriers, and social stigma persist, underscoring the need for reforms to ensure children’s full legal identity and social inclusion.

The second WHO and UNICEF-facilitated Digital Dialogue, following the 2024 Global Ministerial Conference, convened over 400 participants to explore how care reform can help prevent violence against children. Co-hosted by Better Care Network, Lumos, UNICEF, and WHO, the session highlighted country experiences, regional efforts, and the urgent need for integrated, family-based solutions to end institutional violence and protect every child.

The Solomon Island's Child and Family Welfare Act 2017 signalled a strong commitment from the government to strengthen national efforts to prevent and respond to violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation of children. This Multi-Sectoral Implementation Plan 2025–2030 outline's the government's plan to improve services to strengthen family and community caring practices and to ensure a timely and appropriate response to all children in need of care and protection.

This study explores the policy environment for children cared for by grandparents in Libode, Eastern Cape, South Africa, finding no specific policies to guide or support such caregiving. It recommends developing dedicated policies, resources, and information to better equip grandparents, while contributing new insights to scholarship and informing policymakers.

The Adoptions and Safe Families Act (ASFA) of 1997, combined with rising incarceration rates, has increased the risk of parental rights termination for incarcerated parents, often leading to foster care placements for their children. A review of state-level policies found most lacked coordination between the child welfare and criminal legal systems, highlighting the need for cross-system collaboration and inclusion of parents with lived experience in legislative efforts.

This paper critically reviews India’s child welfare policies, highlighting how gaps in implementation, funding, and monitoring continue to leave millions of orphaned and abandoned children vulnerable despite existing legal frameworks. Drawing on international best practices, it proposes a shift toward family-based care, strengthened mental health and social work systems, technology-enabled monitoring, and greater child participation to build a more inclusive, child-centred welfare system.

The purpose of this Information Memorandum (IM) is to provide information on best practices for providing quality programs and services to young people who are preparing to transition out of the foster care system in the U.S.

This article examines how key concepts and terminologies within and surrounding the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child shape narratives in the African human rights landscape, emphasizing the need to interrogate and deconstruct them through a decolonial lens. Using document analysis, it argues that critically problematising these terms is essential for strengthening the African Children’s Committee’s application of decoloniality and for advancing equity and accountability in child rights implementation.

This study examines how policy developments and the introduction of the Minor Protection (Alternative Care) Act, Chapter 602, have shaped the alternative care system and impacted the welfare and rights of children and families in Malta. It analyzes legislative intent, stakeholder perspectives, and gaps in practice, highlighting challenges and proposing reforms to strengthen the law’s implementation and support ongoing alternative care improvements.

The 2025 State of Care report by VOYCE – Whakarongo Mai shares the experiences of children and young people in care in New Zealand, focusing on whether they feel truly cared for rather than just how the system performs. Co-written with care-experienced youth, the report amplifies their voices to highlight what is working, what needs to change, and their hopes and recommendations for improving the care system.