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 Namakkal, greed and poverty drives the illegal adoption racket
An inquiry by police in the Indian state of Namakkal into an audio recording of a conversation on procuring babies for illegal adoption, "which sounded like one between a prospective buyer and a broker, uncovered a network involved in the sale of 30 newborns – 24 of them female -- from various parts of the State," says this article from the Hindu.
122 rescued from illegal child care home
The "Central Child Welfare Board, in coordination with the [Nepali] National Centre for Children at Risk, local level representatives and police, rescued a total of 122 children from Sukedhara-based Aishworya Children’s Home being operated without meeting minimum standards prescribed by the existing law," according to this article from the Himalayan Times.
The harm of orphanages (part 2): weakening family and community structures in Africa
In this blog post for Hope and Homes for Children, Stephen Ucembe writes about the damaging impacts of orphanages in the African context.
The harm of orphanages (part 1): the illusion of protection
In this blog post for Hope and Homes for Children, Stephen Ucembe writes about the damaging impacts of orphanages in the African context.
The boy in the photo
This article tells the story of Amar Kanim, now an adult, who became known in the 1990s as "the little boy who had lost everything in a napalm attack" in Iraq, and his journey to find the family he thought he'd lost.
The children growing up in a ‘motherless village’
"In eastern Indonesia there are areas where almost all young mothers have gone to work abroad. Indonesians refer to these communities as the 'motherless villages,'" according to this article from the BBC.
He Crossed the Border Alone, Then Spent 8 Months in Custody. He Was 7.
This article from the New York Times tells the story of one 7 year-old boy from Honduras, José, who travelled to the US alone, being transported by smugglers from Mexico, to reunify with his mother in the US state of Texas, only to be placed in foster care in New York for 8 months.
Zimbabwean officials try to sell parents on a new idea: adoption
This article from the Christian Science Monitor describes the Zimbabwean government's efforts to promote domestic adoption amidst "the twin crises of HIV/AIDS and a massive economic decline," which have left many children without adequate parental care, and some of the obstacles to building up domestic adoption in the country, including cultural taboos.
Care-experienced young people’s interactions with the police
This guest blog post for the Howard League, written by Sam Turner of the charity Become, explores what care-experienced young people in the UK have told the charity about their interactions with the police.
Kerala to implement deinstitutionalisation for better psychological development of children
The government of the Indian state of Kerala is considering a plan to deinstitutionalize their residential care system, reintegrating children from child care institutions into their families of origin or finding family-based alternative care options such as foster care and adoption, according to this article from the New Indian Express.