Throughout the year, the BCN Secretariat disseminates the latest research, tools, news, videos, opportunities and events, and other resources related to children's care around the globe through its monthly newsletter. The newsletter membership has expanded from just over 300 participants in 2003 to over 5,200 across 67 countries in 2024.
Special Issues of the newsletter are also published, often in partnership with key actors in the sector, focusing on a particular theme, country or region to draw attention to the growing body of knowledge developing on the issue or context and to help busy practitioners keep abreast of learning and changes. If you want to share a resource or propose a theme for a special issue, please contact us at contact@bettercarenetwork.org
See a paper paper highlighting the experiences of birth mothers who have children placed in kinship care in the UK; a report presenting the main findings of an evaluation of the child care and deinstitutionalisation reforms in seven countries in the Europe and Central Asia Region; an assessment that sheds light on children with disabilities without family support in the Philippines and the alternative care arrangements available for them; and a practical guide for legislators on how to work together to end orphanage trafficking and so much more.
See a report on the lived experiences of young care leavers in Iran and their perceptions and views of transitioning to the world outside of home care; a study that examines how parental substance use affects the outcomes of Australian children in out-of-home care; an article addressing the complex dynamics surrounding unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in the UK; the newly added Transition Monitoring Tool and Divestment of Residential Care Services Guidelines and Recommendations and much more.
See a global report on the impact of residential care on child development; a report by the Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism with recommendations on improving the daily challenges and life experiences of children with albinism in the context of the right to a family life; a series of publications on infant institutionalization and the effects of early deprivation & much more.
See a report examining the high demand for foster care services in South Africa & the impact on the country's social work services; a study aiming to provide evidence-based indicators of orphanage trafficking & much more.
See a new case study on children's care in the context of climate change in Kajiado County, Kenya; a report on the wellbeing of primary caregivers responsible for orphans and vulnerable children in Ethiopia; a comprehensive state-by-state survey of kinship care policies in the U.S.; and a book which serves as a valuable resource to think more broadly and flexibly about transition planning with care-leavers and much more.
See a new report capturing the perceptions of children affected by the conflict in Ukraine through focus group discussions over a two-year period; a new study on a child's right to family life when placed in public care; a new brief containing high-level guidance and recommendations to consider in designing frameworks to scale up, coordinate and support the transition of individual residential care services and much more.
See an in-depth analysis of the situation of children in alternative care and in adoption in Europe and Central Asia; several peer-reviewed articles on transitioning from care; the first ever global, practitioner-informed guidance on how to support kinship care; an in-depth scoping review on different types of transitional support interventions available to support transition to independent living for care leavers and much more.
See a report on the impact of deinstitutionalization on children in the El Salvadoran Child Protection System; the first-ever National Kinship Care Strategy to be published in the UK; a global manual aimed at helping countries and their national statistical systems to improve the collection, analysis, sharing and use of data on children on the move; and a free chapter from the "Working with Children Who Have Experienced Neglect" Good Practice Guide and much more.
See a report on the impact of COVID-19 on Out-of-Home Care (OOHC) and child protective services (CPS) worldwide, an article on the first 6 months of the war in Ukraine and its implications for social workers engaged in work with children and their families, a study on the prevalence of mental health disorders among Looked After Children in the UK, and national guidelines and standards to guide state and non-state actors in Kenya to streamline the transitioning of care systems, children and institutions in the country and much more.
See a report that makes the case for investing in family care in Moldova, a new report on understanding the lived experience of young adults who grew up in the residential care centres in Tanzania and the impact on their lives, a new thematic brief on volunteering, voluntourism, tourism and trafficking in orphanages with guidance on key policy measures and concrete steps to eliminate orphanage tourism and voluntourism, and a new set of guidelines to support practitioners to develop messaging for children and young people that clearly communicates the intention to transition and the implications for children and young people in care and much more.
