Data and Monitoring Tools

Monitoring and research are essential processes in ensuring the relevance and effectiveness of programs, and the scope and type of service provision. They are integral components of analysis, strategic planning, and implementation for government and non-governmental organisations seeking to effect change, support or provide services.

Monitoring is an on-going process of gathering information e.g. statistics and tracking inputs and outputs, enabling the evaluation of what is working, and providing a mechanism for accountability. Combined with research, it facilitates the planning of improved resource allocation and service delivery. Research and monitoring can also help raise awareness of the gravity of a situation, both nationally and internationally. It should help convince those who are putting time, energy and money into supporting programmes that their efforts are worthwhile and should be continued.

Results of monitoring and evaluation should be fed directly back into programmes to correct weaknesses and improve performance. The outcomes of research and monitoring should also help improve child care policies. Results can be used to inform future programme design, prompting a decision to replicate an effective intervention in other areas or to discontinue an intervention because it is expensive and not making any beneficial changes.

The literature in this section provides statistical data on vulnerable children from a wide range of sources, as well as guidance and examples of data collection, indicators, analysis, and research methods regarding issues relating to vulnerable children.

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Lesotho DHS 2014: Children’s Care and Living Arrangements

Garazi Zulaika and Florence Martin - Better Care Network, 2017

This country brief is part of a series that aims to provide an analysis of children’s living and care arrangements according to the latest available data from Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) or Multiple Indicators Cluster Surveys (MICS) at the time of publication.

The childcare and early learning experiences of children in out-of-home care: What does the Pathways of Care Longitudinal Study tell us?

Katie Page, Christie Robertson - Department of Family and Community Services (NSW), 22 Dec 2016

This Evidence to Action Note outlines key findings related to the childcare and early learning experiences of a group of children in out-of-home care (OOHC) in New South Wales aged 9 months to 5 years, drawing on the first interview with their carers for the Pathways of Care Longitudinal Study (POCLS).

Report of The Network Meeting of National Statistical Offices: Leaving No Child Behind

TransMonEE, 01 Nov 2016

This document summarizes the content of the 6-7 October 2016 Network Meeting of National Statistical Offices. The event comprised of a number of presentations on topics related to the SDGs and data on children in alternative care.

Evaluation Brief: Evaluating Systems and Organizational Change in Child Welfare Settings

James Bell Associates on behalf of the Children’s Bureau, Administration for Children and Families, 31 Oct 2016

This brief explores challenges and strategies for evaluating systems and organizational change in US child welfare settings.

Validation of a Measure of Foster Home Integration for Foster Youth

Brianne H. Kothari, Bowen McBeath, Lew Bank, Paul Sorenson, Jeff Waid, Sara Jade Webb - Research on Social Work Practice, 25 Oct 2016

This article introduces a youth-reported measure (Essential Youth Experiences [EYE]) developed to assess the experiences of foster youth in their home environment and their critical relationships across a number of service systems.

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Children looked after in England including adoption: 2015 to 2016

UK Department for Education, 29 Sep 2016

This statistical release provides information about looked after children in England for the year ending 31 March 2016, including where they are placed, their legal status, the numbers starting and ceasing to be looked after, and the numbers who go missing or are away from their placement without authorisation.

Information and Communication Technology for Child Protection Case Management in Emergencies: An Overview of the Existing Evidence Base

Nadi N. Kaonga, Hima Batavia, William C. Philbrick, & Patricia N. Mechael - Procedia Engineering, 14 Sep 2016

Organizations working to protect the health and wellbeing of children in emergencies are moving away from traditional paper-based systems towards more sophisticated and innovative digitally-based systems. Formative research was conducted to identify the state of the current evidence base on the use of information and communication technology (ICT) for child protection case management in emergencies (CPCME).

Orphanhood Prevalence, Living Arrangements and Orphanhood Reporting in Lesotho, Malawi and Zimbabwe

Mercy Shoko & Latifat Ibisomi - Child Indicators Research, 08 Jul 2016

This study explores the relationship between orphanhood prevalence, living arrangements and orphanhood reporting.

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Measuring the wellbeing of looked after children - current approaches and future recommendations

Tracey Jane Bywater and Sarah Louise Blower - Research in Practice, 05 Jul 2016

This report from Research in Practice examines the wellbeing of children in care in the UK and the approaches to measuring wellbeing.

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Looked after children in residential care: analysis

Sir Martin Narey - UK Department for Education, 04 Jul 2016

This analysis was produced as part of an independent review into children's residential care in England and provides data on children living in all types of residential care facilities in the country as of 31 March 2015.