On the 24th September, 2014 Better Care Network and the CPC Learning Network organized a one day symposium entitled "The State of the Evidence on Children’s Care" at McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research, New York University. The symposium topics were clustered around three specific areas of issues related to children’s care:

• Efforts to measure trends in families and children’s care and living arrangements;

• Initiatives to measure the impact of policies and programs to strengthen families and to ensure children’s ability to be raised in a family environment; and,

• Measurement of situations and outcomes concerning children outside of family care and children in alternative care arrangements.

The symposium brought together a number of leading academics, policy makers and practitioners involved in the development or implementation of key initiatives to better measure issues of children’s care at country, regional or international levels. The symposium provided an important opportunity for collaboration and learning across initiatives to help those working to strengthen care for children to develop a more informed and cohesive picture of the research agenda on this critical aspect of children’s protection and well-being. Taken together, the symposium’s presentations and ensuing discussions represent some of the most recent learning on children’s care issues, and the organizers will collate the symposium’s proceedings in a special issue of a relevant academic journal. 

Panel 1: Measuring Trends in Families and Children’s Care and Living Arrangements 

Moderated by: Mark Canavera, Associate Director of the CPC Learning Network

Presentations by: 

• Mindy Scott, Senior Research Scientist at Child Trends: Issues in Measuring Family Structure and Child outcomes for the World Family Map

• Florence Martin, ‎Senior Policy and Knowledge Management Adviser at the Better Care Network: Who cares for children and why we should care- Making better use of data from DHS and MICS

• Mónica Ruiz-Casares, Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and at the Centre for Research on Children and Families at McGill University: Exploring Child Care Arrangements & Reasons for Family Separation in Liberia & Laos 

Panel 2: Measuring the Impact of Family Strengthening and Prevention of Separation Interventions 

Moderated by: Mary McKay, Director of the McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research, Professor of Social Work at New York University 

Presentations by: 

• Jeannie Annan, Director of Research and Evaluation at the International Rescue Committee: Measuring the Impact of Parenting Interventions in Low-Resource and Humanitarian Settings

• Deborah Daro, Senior Research Fellow at Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago: Early Family Support and Home Visiting:Transforming Practice/Maximizing Impacts

• Andrew Muriuki, University of Wisconsin researcher: Improving OVC Health And Social Outcomes Through Community Caregivers in Côte d’Ivoire

Panel 3: Measuring Situations and Outcomes Concerning Children outside Family Care and Children in Alternative Care Arrangements

Moderated by: John Williamson, Senior Technical Advisor, Displaced Children and Orphans Fund, USAID,

Presentations by: 

• Fred Wulcyzn, Senior Research Fellow at Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago: Measuring Situations and Outcomes: Public Health Impact of the Law (Adoption and Foster Care Data in the US)

• Lindsay Stark, Assistant Professor at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University and director of the CPC Learning Network: Enumerating Children Outside of Family Care and Measuring Separation in Emergencies.

• Joan Townsend, U.S. Country Director, Retrak: Evaluating Outcomes: Retrak’s use of the Child Status Index to measure well-being of street connected children.