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.

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A Second Revolution: Thirty years of child rights, and the unfinished agenda

Child Rights Now! - Joining Forces, 01 Jun 2019

This report reviews the situation of vulnerable children and children's rights and concludes with a call to action to improve the lives of children. The report includes a section on children in vulnerable family settings, including a brief case study on deinstitutionalization in Romania and the problems that persist there.

UNICEF Annual Report 2018: For every child, every right

UNICEF, 01 Jun 2019

In words, images, facts and figures, this report details the results that UNICEF achieved in 2018, together with its generous partners and supporters, a dedicated global workforce and children and young people themselves.

Country Care Review: Singapore

Better Care Network, 31 May 2019

This country care review includes the care-related Concluding Observations adopted by the Committee on the Rights of the Child.

Country Care Review: Botswana

Better Care Network, 31 May 2019

This country care review includes the care-related Concluding Observations adopted by the Committee on the Rights of the Child.

Policy and practice supports for young people transitioning from out-of-home care: An analysis of six recent inquiries in Australia

Philip Mendes, Samone McCurdy - Journal of Social Work, 30 May 2019

This article uses a content analysis methodology to critically examine and compare the findings of six recent Australian child protection inquiries (five at state and territory level and one Commonwealth) in relation to their discrete sections on leaving care.

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Legal and Institutional Frameworks on Child Justice Administration in South Africa

Mariam Adepeju Abdulraheem-Mustapha - Child Justice Administration in Africa, 30 May 2019

This chapter from the boom Child Justice Administration in Africa examines the development of the child justice system in South Africa. The empirical findings in this book revealed the models put in place for alternative care of children in need of care and protection, which the author believes were hindered by inadequate budgetary allocations and could have been recorded in the administration of child justice in South Africa.

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The shame and shaming of parents in the child protection process: findings from a case study of an English child protection service

Matthew Gibson - Families, Relationships and Societies, 30 May 2019

Given that research identifies parental experiences of shame and humiliation in the child protection process, this article reports on a qualitative study that investigated how and why parents experienced such emotions within the English system.

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Universal Approaches to Promoting Healthy Development

Princeton University and the Brookings Institution, 29 May 2019

This volume explores universal social programs designed to serve entire communities as they move toward achieving population impact in reducing child maltreatment, strengthening parental capacity, and improving infant health and development.

Achieving Broad-Scale Impacts for Social Programs

Ron Haskins, Kenneth A. Dodge, and Deborah Daro - The Future of Children, 29 May 2019

In this brief, Ron Haskins, Kenneth A. Dodge, and Deborah Daro call for a system of psychosocial care for young families in the US, highlighting the the Family Connects program which aims to reach every family with a newborn child in a given community through a system that combines home visiting by trained nurses; community alignment through a directory of services to connect families to the resources they need; and data and monitoring through an electronic data system that acts as a family-specific psychosocial and educational record.