This review examines interventions for orphans and vulnerable children in South Africa, identifying a wide range of approaches but highlighting uneven coverage, limited evidence on effectiveness, and challenges such as insufficient funding and government support. It concludes that more sustainable impact requires integrated interventions that first address basic needs and then support children’s psychological and developmental well-being.

This study examines the disconnect between Ghana’s child protection laws and their implementation, arguing that the gap stems from tensions between global rights-based frameworks and local, duty-oriented cultural practices rather than resource limitations. It proposes a hybrid governance approach that aligns formal legal systems with traditional kinship structures and promotes culturally responsive practice to strengthen child protection outcomes.

This paper explores the experiences of informal caregivers in South Africa supporting youth with intellectual disabilities and/or autism as they transition from residential care to adulthood. It finds that caregivers play a vital role but face significant challenges, including inadequate transition planning, limited aftercare services, and insufficient formal support.

This article highlights the harsh realities faced by street children in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, while showcasing the efforts of local organizations working to support them. It describes how thousands of children—often driven to the streets by poverty, family breakdown, or accusations of witchcraft—survive through begging, informal work, and coping with daily violence, exploitation, and health risks.

This study explored adapting the Parenting for Lifelong Health (PLH) program in Zimbabwe to explicitly address both violence against children and violence against women by incorporating gender-transformative approaches and actively engaging fathers. Findings showed strong interest in the program, highlighting the need for relationship skill-building, economic support, and intentional father involvement to create safer, more resilient family environments.

This study examines child safeguarding practices in Catholic dioceses in Kenya, finding that although safeguarding policies and support systems exist, only a small proportion of church personnel have received formal training. The research highlights ongoing risks—including sexual abuse, child labour, neglect, and early marriage—and identifies resource constraints, cultural resistance, and institutional barriers as key challenges to effective safeguarding.

This study examines institutional care policy and operations in Nigeria using a qualitative literature review, with a focus on how children’s rights frameworks shape child welfare practices. The study concludes that institutions can be improved to be comparable to family living but they should be the last resort.

This study assessed the prevalence and factors associated with physical violence against orphaned and vulnerable children (OVC) in Namibia, using data from 16,507 participants in the Reach program. Findings show that 10.9% of OVC experienced recent physical abuse, with variation across districts and age groups, highlighting the need for targeted violence‑prevention campaigns, community-level behavior change initiatives, and regular regional assessments to address localized drivers of violence.

This paper introduces an Advocacy Reach Calculator developed by ChildFund International to estimate how many children and families benefit from child protection policy changes. It outlines the tool’s development and pilot testing in four countries, showing how it can support better monitoring, planning, and advocacy efforts.

This qualitative case study in Arua City, Uganda, explores how parenting practices contribute to the persistence of street children, drawing on interviews with 30 street-connected children as well as parents and community leaders. Findings show that poverty, neglect, abuse, weak supervision, and family breakdown—combined with push factors like hunger and domestic violence and pull factors such as peer networks and perceived economic opportunity—drive children to the streets, underscoring the need for strengthened family support, community protection systems, and parental economic empowerment.