Better Care Network highlights recent news pieces related to the issue of children's care around the world. These pieces include newspaper articles, interviews, audio or video clips, campaign launches, and more.
In efforts to prioritise family preservation, family reunification and foster care in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), adoption has become a slow process in the South African province, with only eight adoptions finalised in the first eleven months of 2016. New changes may mean more inter-country adoptions, while many domestic adoptions remain blocked or opposed by the KZN Head of Department for Social Development.
"There have been well substantiated reports of trafficked children in orphanages for several years," writes Harold Goodwin in WTM's Responsible Tourism Blog.
MoSD and UNICEF convened a meeting with judges, legal experts and community-based organizations to discuss strategies and plans for moving away from institutional care and strengthening Jordan's foster care system.
Jayne Cravens reviews recent trends and developments in virtual volunteering, which offers volunteer opportunities that can be completed online. Links to numerous examples, articles, and resources are included.
In an interview with David Bevan of ABC Radio, child protection advocate Karen Flanagan, Save the Children, discusses the harms of orphanage tourism and funding as well as the Australian government's consideration of a ban on orphanage tourism.
UK government cuts to legal aid in 2012 have greatly impacted unaccompanied migrant children, who are now denied legal aid in non-asylum cases.
Despite good intentions, volunteers and donors from Australia and the larger international community are supporting orphanages separating children from their families. Australia is seeking to curb support for orphanages in countries like Cambodia, where the trafficking of children into orphanages is a common practice.
Japan's Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry has announced new targets for children in need of alternative care.
The Social and Health Management software (SOHEMA) Child Case Management System (CCMS), a new software system in Jamaica, will allow child protection officers to upload and track cases of children in the child protection system.
A parliamentary committee sitting in Canberra is considering adding a world-first clause in a Modern Slavery Act aiming to cut the supply of Australian money to foreign child care institutions and redirect it to help reintegrate children into their home communities; the clause would also make it a criminal offense for Australians to visit foreign orphanages.