In this workshop Family for Every Child members Flüchtlingsrat Niedersachsen (The Refugee Council of Lower Saxony, Germany), Programma Integra (Italy) and METAdrasi (Greece) share their experience around supporting unaccompanied minors, with For Our Children (FoC) in Bulgaria. They share top tips with FoC as they navigate the arrival of unaccompanied minors fleeing the conflict in Ukraine, and find ways to support them.

The main goal of this exploratory and descriptive study is to understand the perceptions of Portuguese child protection professionals concerning Family foster care. 101 participants, from different professional backgrounds and child protection contexts, filled out a questionnaire. Main findings show a heterogeneous degree of familiarity to FFC, and a generally positive although reserved attitude to it.

Eurochild has carried out an urgent mapping, with support from its members, UNICEF country teams and government representatives across 13 countries. The mapping examines the laws and policies at national level for children in alternative care and unaccompanied and separated children from Ukraine who arrive in the following countries: Czechia, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain and the United Kingdom.

For most children, nationality is clear-cut. Most countries pass nationality down to children who are born to at least one of their citizens, while a smaller number grant nationality to any child born on their territory. But citizenship laws are by nature more exclusive than inclusive. For children whose parentage or family structure is not recognized by the state, obtaining nationality and related documentation can be a daunting challenge.

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.

This basic awareness-raising course is for anyone who may come into contact with children and young people in alternative care settings. The aim of the course is to provide a brief understanding of trauma, the impact it can have on the lives of children and young people, and ways to support those who may be affected by it.

This policy brief summarises the policy context, as well as the key findings and recommendations from the analysis of the national responses to the DataCare survey across Europe. More detailed information can be found in the full research report: Better Data for Better Child Protection Systems in Europe: Mapping how data on children in alternative care are collected, analysed, and published across 28 European countries, which includes a full set of country profiles.

This report was conceptualised jointly by Eurochild and the UNICEF Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (ECARO) and builds on the Eurochild report on alternative care in Europe published in 2009. It also includes a full set of country profiles.

The DataCare Project was launched by Eurochild with support from UNICEF in March 2020. The project aims to carry out a comprehensive mapping of child protection data systems across the 27 Member States of the European Union (EU) and the UK. In addition to providing an overview of the situation of children in alternative care in Europe, this project aims to inform EU efforts to agree to comparable benchmarks and indicators to monitor progress in child protection reforms across Europe.

Recent international research has warned of the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on vulnerable children. However, little is known regarding the in-care population. The objective of this study was to find out how children in residential care perceived the influence of the COVID-19 lockdown in their everyday life, relationships and subjective well-being. Participants and setting: 856 children from 10 to 17 years old (Mage = 15.5, males = 71.2%, females = 28.8%) living in residential centres in Catalonia.