Ukrainian officials have condemned a new decree signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in early 2024 simplifying the process of conferring Russian citizenship on Ukrainian children abducted from wartime Ukraine.

Police start to interview witnesses following Guardian reports on adoptions to the Netherlands nearly 50 years ago

The aim of this research was to gain insight into the youth resilience factors promoting a successful transition to an independent life after living in alternative care in Croatia. The study was conducted using semi-structured interviews with eight young people who had experience living in alternative care and showed successful adaptation to an independent life.

Norwegian youth in out-of-home care move three times as frequently as their peers. Such placement instability is linked to negative outcomes in terms of social attachment, well-being, educational achievements, health, and future opportunities. Norway implemented a new child welfare service reform in 2022 that increased the municipalities responsibilities for out-of-home care. This study evaluates how the implemented measures affect the number of moves within out-of-home care in Trøndelag county. Norway.

This article explores how the monitoring of foster homes in Norway is experienced by children and youths who have been exposed to what they consider abusive behaviour by foster parents. Using a thematic narrative theoretical framework, the article shows that a common narrative in the youths’ accounts is a story of mistrust towards social workers and monitoring officers, which relates to a general mistrust towards the child welfare service.

'Long road ahead before ending Europe and Central Asia’s long, painful legacy’ of institutionalisation of children, as new UNICEF report highlights rate of children living in residential care across region is double the global average

This report provides an in-depth analysis of the situation of children in alternative care and in adoption in Europe and Central Asia (ECA) based on available data from TransMonEE, as well as other sources such as MICS, DataCare and the Conference of European Statisticians (CES). It marks the first analysis of data on children in alternative care by the UNICEF ECA Regional Office since the publication of the ‘At home or in a home’ report in 2010, highlighting the developments and challenges in collecting and reporting data on children in alternative care and adoption and summarises recommendations derived from recent data review initiatives.

Young people who age out of state care are at risk of a range of negative outcomes. In England, national data provides only five indicators of care leavers’ lives and there are no measures of how young people themselves feel about their transition to adulthood. To fill this gap a new survey to measure subjective wellbeing was coproduced with 31 care leavers. The survey was then distributed by 21 local authorities and completed by 1804 care leavers.

Understanding reunification practice in the children’s social care system in England

This qualitative study explores the emotional and social experiences of 10 children, aged 6–11, residing in foster care in Italy before adoption for almost three years. Through semi-structured interviews, the study underlined the needs and expectations of these children, highlighting the necessity for a deeper reflection on the role of foster homes as nurturing and educational communities.