This editorial piece from the Journal of Global Social Welfare introduces the journal's special issue on measuring children’s care arrangements. “The wide-ranging gaps in current understanding and knowledge related to trends and patterns in children’s care and the provision of alternative care, in both formal and informal settings, make it difficult to know what programs and approaches will be most effective in realizing these ideals,” says the editorial. “To that end, this special issue of Global Social Welfare represents an effort to present state-of-the-art learning about how to measure issues related to children’s care in a way that informs more effective policies and programs. The issue grows out of a 2014 symposium co-hosted by the Better Care Network and the CPC Learning Network at New York University’s McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research, an event that convened a number of leading academics, policymakers, and practitioners involved in the development or implementation of key initiatives to better measure issues of children’s care at country, regional, and international levels.”
Other articles in this special issue include:
Section 1: Measuring trends in families and children’s care and living arrangements
- Martin and Zulaika: Who Cares For Children? A Descriptive Study Of Care-Related Data Available Through Global Household Surveys
- Scott and Karberg: “Measuring children’s care arrangements and their educational and health outcomes internationally”
Section 2: Determining the effectiveness of policies and programs
- Daro: “Early Family Support Interventions: Creating Context for Success”
- Wulczyn et al.: “The Value-Added Impact of Fast-Track Adoption Policy on Adoption Rates”
- Muriuki et al.: “Improving Health and Social Outcomes through Community Caregivers in Côte d’Ivoire”
Section 3: Improving learning about children in alternative care
- Stark and Rubenstein: “A Forgotten Population: Estimating the Number of Children Outside of Households in Cambodia”
- Ruiz-Casares and Phommavang: “Determinants and Consequences of Children Living Outside of Parental Care in Lao People’s Democratic Republic: Views & Experiences of Adults and Young People in Family and Residential Care”
- Corcoran and Wakia: “Using child wellbeing assessments to track progress in family-based reintegration”