Special Representative of the Secretary General on Violence Against Children, Maria Santos Pais, met with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Commission on the Rights of Women and Children in Jakarta, Indonesia. The meeting included updates from the ASEAN Commissioners on efforts and reforms in the region to ensure children’s protection from violence.

Some private schools in Australia are taking students on volunteer trips to orphanages in Asia. But “what do these trips mean for the children in orphanages?,” this article asks.

A recent police investigation in Baramati, India has revealed that a local girls’ orphanage has been running a child marriage racket, according to this article from Pune Mirror.

A correspondent from the Daily Star in Bangladesh investigated an “orphanage” at Angaria village in Dumki upazila that was receiving government funds.

30 children from West Bengal, India were recently “rescued” by police during a child labour raid in the Old City. The children are now being lodged at a rescue home “with little hope of returning to their native place” as they await a First Information Report (FIR) to be issued, according to the article.

Orphanage tourism is on the rise in Myanmar and in other countries in the region such as Cambodia and Thailand, according to the article.

The ultimate message of a recent national adoption meeting in India was that all stakeholders should do their utmost to ensure the best interests of children are given priority and first consideration in all matters related to adoption, according to the article.

This article from the BBC follows up on two recent “baby scandals” that emerged in Thailand last year.

In January and February of 2015, in order to create an evidence-based foundation on which to design community-oriented family preservation services, FCI conducted a rapid assessment survey of 366 Palanhar Yojana beneficiary families in the city of Udaipur, Rajasthan, India.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in the Philippines has issued a statement that it will continue to advocate for legal adoptions in the country.