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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Improving Child Welfare Outcomes Balancing Investments in Prevention and Treatment

Jeanne S. Ringel, Dana Schultz, Joshua Mendelsohn, Stephanie Brooks Holliday, Katharine Anne Sieck, Ifeanyi Edochie, Lauren Davis - RAND Corporation, 01 Dec 2017

This study is the first attempt to integrate maltreatment risk, detection, pathways through the child welfare system, and consequences in a comprehensive quantitative model that can be used to simulate the impact of policy changes.

Resolving homelessness for young care leavers in Ireland: A long journey

Eoin O'Sullivan - Parity, 01 Dec 2017

This brief article will outline the path to the provision of an explicit entitlement to aftercare in Ireland.

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Disregarding the Best Interest of the Child: Licenses to Discriminate In Child Welfare Services

Human Rights Campaign, 01 Dec 2017

This brief from the Human Rights Campaign explains why US state laws allowing taxpayer-funded child welfare programs (adoption and foster care services) to discriminate against LGBTQ parents, carers and children is not in the best interests of children.

Continuous Quality Improvement Processes in Child Protection A Systematic Literature Review

Ines Zuchowski, Debra Miles, Cindy Woods, Komla Tsey - Research on Social Work Practice, 28 Nov 2017

This systematic literature review examined the application of Continuous Quality Improvement in child protection services.

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Achieving positive change for children? Reducing the length of child protection proceedings: lessons from England and Wales

Judith Masson, Jonathan Dickens, and Kay Bader - Adoption and Fostering, 24 Nov 2017

This article will discuss the impact of reforms on time limits in decision-making for children, questioning whether they achieve both good decisions for children and justice for families.

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Country Care Review: Democratic People's Republic of Korea

Better Care Network, 20 Nov 2017

This country care review includes the care-related Concluding Observations adopted by the Committee on the Rights of the Child as part of its examination of North Korea’s periodic report to the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Care order templates as institutional scripts in child protection: A cross-system analysis

Jill Duerr Berrick, Jonathan Dickens, Tarja Pösö, Marit Skivenes - Children and Youth Services Review, 13 Nov 2017

This article compares blank care order application templates used in four countries (England, Finland, Norway, and USA (California)), treating them as a vital part of the ‘institutional scripts’ that shape practice, and embody state principles of child protection.

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Country Care Review: Moldova

Better Care Network, 10 Nov 2017

This country care review includes the care related Concluding Observations adopted by the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Committee on the Right of the Child at their recent examinations of the State's report.

Country Care Review: Denmark

Better Care Network, 10 Nov 2017

Estimating minimum adequate foster care costs for children in the United States

HaksoonAhn, Diane DePanfilis, Kevin Frick, Richard P. Barth - Children and Youth Services Review, 03 Nov 2017

The objectives of this study are to: use the methodology of a 2007 study to establish foster care minimum adequate rates for children (MARC) based on the child's age and geographical location in every state; update the MARC with cost of living adjustments to 2016; examine changes in gaps between the MARC and the current foster care rates; and identify states that have made increases to their reimbursement rates, relative to the MARC over time.

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