This report contains detailed discussions that occurred during conference sessions.  The first day focused on Caregivers.  The second day focused on aftercare services. This report contains Article 20 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.  It provides background information on alternative care, which includes a definition and an overview of the alternative care situation in South Asia. It also includes some key guidelines from the UN Guidelines for the Alternative Care for Children.

This study assesses the effects of institutional care on social interaction anxiety in children and further assesses the role of social interaction anxiety in emotional and behavioral problems in children.

This report by Women’s Link Worldwide tells the stories of twelve women who fled the bombings and violence in Syria only to end up trapped in Piraeus, Greece, deprived of their most basic rights.

This study reports on children’s experiences of living with HIV-positive parents within the family context of Bangladesh. 

This report from UNICEF highlights the many dangers, risks, and challenges faced by unaccompanied refugee and migrant children travelling to Europe on their own to escape conflict, poverty, or other forms of oppression.

This desk review examines the reasons children are being placed in care, evaluates the types of care in the region, and discusses regional efforts towards deinstitutionalisation.

This article from Voice of America presents findings from a recent report based on the experiences of police and charities in Bengaluru city in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. The report sheds light on the multi million rupee industry of child trafficking on India’s streets. 

This post is part of the Better Volunteering Better Care Initiative’s month-long spread of articles aimed at raising awareness around the issues of orphanage volunteering. In this post, the author interviews Caroline Scheffer, former Country Director of the The Umbrella Foundation, who shares her thoughts on volunteer and orphanage tourism, and her recommendations for helping ensure the safety and well-being of vulnerable children in developing countries.

This post is part of the Better Volunteering Better Care Initiative’s month-long spread of articles aimed at raising awareness around the issues of orphanage volunteering. In this post, the author explains that, around the world, many orphanages are being run, not by government, but by church groups and individuals who start as volunteers. “The institutions are poorly regulated and they’re doing a job that could be done by the children’s families, with the right support,” says Smith.

This paper provides an overview of international volunteering, or “voluntourism,” and its potential vulnerability to child sexual exploitation, particularly in residential care centres.