The Action Plan on Children in Adversity is the first government wide strategic guidance for U.S. Government international assistance for children. The goal of the Action Plan is to achieve a world in which all children grow up within protective family care and free from deprivation, exploitation, and danger. It has three principal objectives, with Objective 2 specifically focusing on the importance of promoting family care and prevention of family-child separation.

In its Annual report (2011-2012), the Indian Ministry of Women and Child Development reports on progress in the implementation of the Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS), a new policy and programmatic strategy that specifically articulates the need to move away in approach and services from over-reliance on institutional care and towards responses that support family based care.

The Minimum Standards for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action were formulated in 2011-2012 by the Child Protection Working Group (CPWG), an inter-agency working group composed of child protection practitioners, academics, and policy makers working to support child protection work in humanitarian settings.

This presentation to the 2012 Sofia Conference introduces social services available in Belarus for the identification, intervention, care, and rehabilitation of children under the age of 3 with disabilities, in order to prevent their abandonment and placement in institutions.

This presentation to the 2012 Sofia Conference by Danica Kramarić, Head of Sector for the Promotion and Protection of Health, Croatian Ministry of Health, introduces how positive communication and engaged parenting are key deterrants of the placement of children with disabilities in institutions.

This presentation to the 2012 Sofia Conference by Darinka Yankova, Deputy Chairperson of the State Agency for Child Protection addresses the challenges and the new vision for the deinstitutionalization of children in the Republic of Bulgaria.

This presentation to the 2012 Sofia Conference by the Kuan Sabi Program, in Kazakhstan suggests ways to improve the knowledge and skills of Primary Health Care workers that care for children under the age of 3.

This presentation to the 2012 Sofia conference by Irakli Nadareishvili, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Labor Health and Social Affairs of Georgia, highlights the key initiatives of the deinstitutionalization and childcare system reform launched by Georgia in 2005, as well as the challenges faced in this process.

This presentation to the 2012 Sofia Conference by Valentina Buliga, Minister of Labor in Moldova, Social Protection and Family, introduces Moldova's ongoing collaboration between the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Labor to reduce infant mortality and the placement of children under the age of 3 in institutions.

Although the relationship between child sexual abuse and mental disorders life has been well established, the health consequences of other forms of child maltreatment, including physical abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect have not been systematically examined. This study summarizes the evidence relating to the possible relationship between child physical abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect, and subsequent mental and physical health outcomes.