In this chapter of the Handbook of Child Well-Being, the authors review the findings from research on the cognitive and social-emotional development of children growing up in institutions, foster care and adoption.

This study described the magnitude of physical abuse during childhood in a representative sample of young adults selected from public universities in Albania, and to identify relationship between socioeconomic characteristics and behavioural/lifestyle factors associated with adverse childhood experiences.

This study, from the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) in the UK, focuses on those children in alternative care who experience abuse or neglect at the hands of their caretakers or guardians who are responsible for ensuring their wellbeing.

This Review, commissioned by UNICEF Bulgaria, is aimed at informing the recommendations for the Bulgarian Government’s Action Plan for the implementation of the National Strategy ‘Vision for Deinstitutionalisation of Children in Bulgaria.’

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 highlights the impact three recent television documentaries on British television have had on public awareness and understanding of foster care and adoption processes.

This article provides an overview of the current situation in the out-of-home care in Norway and Sweden. Development in later years is described and discussed, including the trends towards privatization of the welfare system in both countries and the role of private, commercial actors within the care sector including out-of-home care for children and young people.

This document aims to give a brief outline of the main steps taken by Bulgaria and by Romania in their struggle to reform the national child protection systems. The experience accumulated between the two countries, both in terms of similarities and differences (in terms of approach and level of success) may constitute an important basis of debate and inspiration/ learning for other countries in the region that are sharing similar post-communist heritage and are currently considering ways of approaching their own child protection reforms.

This paper discusses participatory research with young people who are leaving public care in Finland to begin independent lives.

This paper presents the findings of a survey of Russian care leavers. The emphasis is on care leavers' experiences of the Russian institutional care system, and the issues that impacted on their postcare transition to adulthood.