On 10 September 2014, UNICEF and the Permanent Mission of Bulgaria co-hosted a high level lunchtime discussion on the right of children below three years to live in a caring and supportive family environment: examples from Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Kazakhstan showed how the integration of social workers and outreach services in the health sector is reducing baby abandonment in pilot areas of the country.

On 10 September 2014, UNICEF and the Permanent Mission of Bulgaria co-hosted a high level Lunchtime Discussion on The right of children below three years to live in a caring and supportive family environment: examples from Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

This country care review includes the care related Concluding Observations adopted by the Committee on the Rights of the Child as part of its examination of the third and fourth periodic reports of Kyrgyzstan (CRC/C/KGZ/4-5) during its 65th Session at its 1880th and 1881st meetings held on 28 May 2014, and adopted, at its 1901st meeting, held on 13 June 2014.

This presentation from Innocenti’s Expert Consultation on Family and Parenting Support includes an overview of family trends in the CEE/CIS region, some promising practices in social protection, and thoughts for going forward.

This article by Tengrinnews reports that Kazakhstan plans to introduce major changes to its orphans and disadvantaged children programs.

This article provide one of the most comprehensive assessments of physical growth, biological markers of growth and nutrition, and general behavioral development, in this case conducted on 286 children under 3 years of age living in 10 institutions in Kazakhstan that were globally deficient.

This report from USAID, prepared by the European Network on Independent Living, features the findings from a study on why little progress has been made to end the institutionalization of people with disabilities in Eastern Europe and Eurasia.

This study compares the data on young people transitioning from out of home care from 9 non-communist European countries examined in the INTRAC document with 14 post-communist countries reviewed in the SOS and INTRAC publications. 

This Country Care Review includes the care-related concluding observations on the third and fourth periodic reports of Uzbekistan, adopted by the Committee on the Rights of the Child at its sixty-third session (27 May–14 June 2013), as well as other care-related concluding observations, ratification dates, and links to the Universal Periodic Review and Hague Intercountry Adoption Country Profile.

In her annual report to the UN General Assembly, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General highlights the results of an expert consultation on violence in early childhood. The consultation highlighted the urgency of supporting families and caregivers in their child-rearing responsibilities and securing a responsive national child protection system to strengthen families’ capacity to raise young children in safe environments and prevent child abandonment and placement in residential care.