The causes of institutionalization are multiple and the impact it causes is reflected in different areas such as the development of the child in general, such as mental, psychic structuring, health, and nutrition. Psychologically, children present alterations in their cognitive, emotional, sexual, and social domains with a high probability of developing several pathological conditions. This chapter presents an overview of this phenomenon based on several research investigations carried out in Spain, Latin America, and Mexico.

There are over 5,400 children in the Virginia foster care system, according to the state Department of Social Services’ website. Roughly 30% of children in foster care nationally identify as LGBTQ and are often kicked out of their biological homes, ending up in foster care because their biological parents didn’t accept their sexual identity.

This bulletin outlines the importance of disaster planning in child welfare and discusses how caseworkers, with the help of their supervisors, can prepare themselves and the children, youth, and families on their caseloads for emergencies. It also provides direction for child welfare staff on response and recovery strategies they can use should disasters occur in their communities.

This report is a follow up to the ‘What Makes Life Good?’ report published in 2020 about the views of care leavers on their well-being, using pre-pandemic data collected between 2017 and 2019 through the Your Life Beyond Care survey. In this follow-up report, the authors compare the ‘What Makes Life Good?’ pre-pandemic data from 1,804 care leavers to data from 2,476 care leavers in 2020 to 2021, since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. This has allowed them to identify priority areas that have emerged recently. Care leavers aged 16 to 25 were asked the same questions at both time points; about their living arrangements and safety, financial well-being, relationship with care workers, emotional support, stress, loneliness, overall well-being, and more.

Roughly 1 in 100 children in the U.S. have their parents’ rights terminated by age 18, according to an expanded 2019 analysis by Cornell and Rutgers Universities, and Black, Brown and Indigenous families, as well as low-income families, disproportionately lose these rights.

There are currently more than 400,000 children in foster care in the United States. While the pandemic has made life more difficult for these vulnerable kids, many say the foster care system itself has been putting them at risk for decades. Special correspondent Charlayne Hunter-Gault sat down with one former foster child who is now on a mission to fix the system by helping families stay together.

COVID-19 has left many of Peru's children orphaned, placing severe strain on surviving family members to provide care for those left behind.

The Polaris Project, which runs the National Human Trafficking Hotline, recorded 14,597 likely victims of sex trafficking of all ages, with 17 being the average age "of entry."

Who are the children being sex trafficked in the U.S? What's being done to support survivors and hold traffickers accountable.

The government said it was unable to reach a global settlement with parents and children who were separated at the border under a Trump administration policy.

In Los Angeles County, there are almost 19,000 children in foster care. More than 600 need a permanent home. This is the story of the people who dedicate their lives to these kids and how a worldwide pandemic hasn’t stopped them.