This article talks about how the Western Cape Department of Social Development in South Africa has launched a new Independent Living pilot programme aimed at supporting young adults as they exit alternative care after turning 18, addressing the ga

The piece argues that Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city, is mishandling the growing crisis of street children by relying mainly on enforcement actions — such as rounding up boys seen begging or washing windscreens along busy roadways

The KUOW article explores a striking reduction in the number of children in southern Uganda who have lost a parent, dropping from nearly one in four in the early 2000s to just 6% by 2022, and links this trend to global HIV treatment efforts.

This article examines the growing prevalence of child-headed households in Zimbabwe, exploring the challenges these children face and the effectiveness of community-based interventions in supporting their wellbeing. It highlights the role of families, community networks, and social services in mitigating risks and proposes a holistic, community-driven model to strengthen resilience and improve outcomes for vulnerable children.

This report presents findings from the SEEDs community-led child protection pilot implemented in Manica Province, Mozambique (2023–2024). The approach aimed to strengthen community ownership, enhance local capacity, and generate evidence for scalable child protection programming.

This study examines the early stages of deinstitutionalization in Zimbabwe, finding that progress is hindered by inconsistent processes, limited workforce capacity, and resistance from institutional stakeholders. It highlights the need for clearer guidelines, stronger training, and better support systems to enable effective transitions from institutional to family-based care.

This qualitative study of a community-based foster care programme in Kenya finds that successful placements depend on foster parent commitment, supportive family relationships, children’s emotional adjustment, and strong community cultural values. It highlights the importance of careful caregiver–child matching, ongoing support, and community engagement to strengthen foster care outcomes and sustainability.

This article offers an extensive theoretical and analytical interrogation of dominant trafficking discourses, with particular emphasis on Ghana, Nigeria, and the wider West African sub-region. It argues that prevailing global and national anti-trafficking frameworks often obscure children’s agency, misrecognise culturally embedded practices such as fostering and labour migration, and produce unintended harms through criminalisation and rescue-oriented interventions.

This article examines how frontline child protection practitioners in Maputo City, Mozambique experience the implementation and enforcement of child protection laws, focusing on perceived barriers and facilitators. It finds that resource constraints, legal gaps, and sociocultural norms hinder effective enforcement, while NGO support and multisectoral coordination act as key enablers, highlighting the need for increased funding, legal harmonization, and evidence-based interventions to prevent violence against children.

This article examines how national care systems for orphans and vulnerable children in Cambodia, Uganda, and Zambia are governed, drawing on case studies and a review of existing research. It highlights the gap between strong policy commitments and weak on-the-ground implementation, pointing to historical, political, and capacity-related factors that hinder effective care and protection.