This briefing the first in a series describing a programme of the Howard League for Penal Reform, which is intended to clarify why so many children in residential care in England and Wales are being criminalised at higher rates than their peers and identify examples of best practice to prevent their unnecessary criminalisation. 

Under England's new fostering to adopt legislation, birth mothers may find temporary foster care arrangements turn into permanent adoption, with limited access to free legal advice. 

This article focuses on the relationship between economic inequality and out-of-home care and child protection interventions in England.

This qualitative study, embedded in a randomised trial of the Group Family Nurse Partnership (gFNP) program, was designed to explore the challenges faced by women with experience in the care system during pregnancy and early parenthood and to assess the potential of gFNP to meet their needs through the perspectives of a range of informants.

This paper analyses comparative child welfare administrative data from each of the four jurisdictions of the UK over a ten-year period to examine rates and patterns of public care for children. 

This report offers 18 recommendations across the key themes of employment, housing and mental health, aimed at improving outcomes for young people from less advantaged backgrounds in Scotland. 

This overview report provides a summary of key findings and lessons from five detailed research papers investigating what has proven to improve outcomes for children in the child protection system, what programs and services are delivered locally in the child protection system, and what is known about the overall effectiveness of the child protection system. 

Inquiry into historical child abuse in Scotland begins after child occupants of the Smyllum Orphanage came forward with allegations of abuse, nearly four decades after the close of the institution. 

Children in the care system – who are more likely to have mental health difficulties than others in the wider population – are not more at risk due to being in care, according to new research from the University of York.

Drawing on data from the Wales Adoption Study, this paper examines the prevalence and profiles of care leavers amongst birth parents whose children were placed for adoption.