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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All Children – All Families 2019 Report: Celebrating Everyday Change-Makers in Child Welfare

The Human Rights Campaign Foundation, 2019

This report highlights more than 70 child welfare agencies across the United States that partnered with the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s All Children - All Families project to improve the services they provide to the LGBTQ community, including children in foster care and prospective foster and adoptive parents.

Progress of the World’s Women 2019-2020: Families in a Changing World

UN Women, 2019

Drawing on the best available data from around the world, this Report proposes a comprehensive agenda for key policy actors – including gender equality advocates, national governments and international agencies – to make human rights a reality for all women and girls, no matter what kind of family they live in.

Participatory information governance: Transforming recordkeeping for childhood out-of-home Care

Joanne Evans, Sue McKemmish, Gregory Rolan - Records Management Journal, 2019

This paper examines the recordkeeping governance requirements of the childhood out-of-home Care sector in Australia, with critical interlaced identity, memory, cultural and accountability needs.

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Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children in Kenya (2014): A User-friendly Handbook

Department of Children's Services - Republic of Kenya, 2019

This handbook is a key tool for supporting care reform in Kenya, promoting family-based alternative care for children, and moving away from institutional care.

Analysis of the child protection system in Bulgaria: Final Report (Bulgarian)

UNICEF, 2019

This research is based on a stock-taking of the current situation. It is based on a comprehensive literature review and a genuine primary research with service users as well as policy makers, service providers, children and families.

Comparative Analysis of the Regulation Regarding the Substantive Conditions of Adoption in Romania and in the Republic of Moldova

Mareş, Cristian; Lupaşcu, Dan - Challenges of the Knowledge Society, 2019

The study examines from a comparative point of view some theoretical issues of the substantive conditions of adoption both in Romania and in the Republic of Moldova as they are regulated by the specific laws.

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Handbook for Commune Committees for Women and Children (CCWC): Improving Child Care and the Safe Return of 30 Per Cent of Children in Residential Care to Their Families

Cambodian Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation, 2019

This handbook highlights the role commune committees for women and children (CCWCs) can play in support of implementing the Action Plan for improving child care, which is being carried out in five priority provinces in Cambodia. The Action Plan intends to safely return 30 per cent of children in residential care to their families by the end of 2018, as well as establish effective preventive and gatekeeping mechanisms to prevent unnecessary family separation. This handbook is useful in strengthening CCWCs’ roles and enhancing their knowledge and capacity to protect children in their communes.

India's Children Continue to Challenge our Conscience

Enakshi Ganguly - HAQ: Centre for Child Rights, 2019

This report, which is also the fifth in the series, reflects on how children and the realisation of their rights continue to challenge our conscience even today.

An examination of child protective service involvement among children born to mothers in foster care

Andrea Lane Eastman, Emily Putnam-Hornstein - Child Abuse & Neglect, 13 Dec 2018

This study identified children born to mothers in foster care and documented Child Protective Service (CPS) involvement among children.

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Children in immediate danger: Emergency removals in Finnish and Irish child protection

Tuuli Lamponen, Tarja Pösö, Kenneth Burns - Child & Family Social Work, 11 Dec 2018

This paper presents a qualitative analysis of front‐line practices regarding emergency removals in Finnish and Irish child protection.

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