This article examines how children’s rights to participation, family connections, and cultural identity are supported in statutory out-of-home care through four case studies involving culturally diverse children and their families. It highlights the importance of intentional, collaborative approaches that center children’s voices and agency while supporting meaningful relationships with carers, birth families, and cultural communities.

This article examines how child protection and welfare systems, while intended to safeguard children, can produce unintended harms and reinforce inequalities, highlighting the critical role of supervision and monitoring in reducing these risks. Drawing on contributions from multiple countries, it explores existing oversight mechanisms, assesses their strengths and limitations, and identifies key gaps to guide future research and improve system accountability.

This study examines factors associated with unplanned placement changes among children living in children’s homes in England. Using national administrative data, it explores how child characteristics and provider-level factors influence placement stability and breakdown.

This review examines interventions for orphans and vulnerable children in South Africa, identifying a wide range of approaches but highlighting uneven coverage, limited evidence on effectiveness, and challenges such as insufficient funding and government support. It concludes that more sustainable impact requires integrated interventions that first address basic needs and then support children’s psychological and developmental well-being.

This interactive graphic depicts the vital processes, mechanisms, and care options necessary for supporting children at risk of being or already separated from their parents. It illustrates how best practices work together to prioritize famil

New data from the Children’s Commissioner for England found 669 children living in unregistered children’s homes as of 1 September 2025—a 12% decrease from the previous year. While the reduction is welcome, these placements remain unlawful and unsafe, highlighting an ongoing failure to adequately protect vulnerable children.

This study examines how care home staff and managers in the UK perceive and respond to children going missing from care, identifying key factors such as communication, relationships, and organizational support that influence prevention and response. Findings highlight the importance of trauma-informed, child-centred, and collaborative approaches, while noting barriers like resource constraints and inconsistent practices, and offer recommendations to improve safeguarding and outcomes.

This report from the Coram Institute for Children marks the 50th anniversary of Coram Voice and highlights the Bright Spots programme, which captures the perspectives of children and young people in care and care leavers to inform local and national policy. Drawing on 27,000 responses collected between 2015 and 2024, the study focuses on what matters most to children and young people in their lives, emphasizing their voices rather than care system outcomes or reasons for entering care.

On November 13, 2025, the Transforming Children's Care Collaborative hosted a webinar to explore insights from two Australian initi

This report makes a series of recommendations on issues affecting all types of care, including foster care, adoption, kinship care, children’s homes, and support for disabled children in the UK.