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.

Group climate in residential youth care is considered to be essential for treatment of youth and young adults. Various instruments exist to measure quality of living group climate, but some are lengthy, use complicated wording, which make them difficult to fill out by youth and individuals with a mild intellectual disability. The present study based in the Netherlands describes the development and rationale for the Group Climate Instrument—Revised (GCI-R).

One council worker said they had to ‘beg, borrow and steal’ to get the right support

This is a report about the Parental Rights in Prison Project (PRiP) based in Wales and England aimed at supporting incarcerated parents who wished to sustain their relationship with their children who are in the care of the local authority, care of family and significant others or adopted and to provide them with legal advice and support around their rights as parents. 

This chapter, which is part of the "Handbook of Human Mobility and Migration" reviews the literature on child migration, highlighting how children compare from adults in their migratory aspirations and migration decision-making, as well as in their experiences in receiving countries in the European and US contexts, where groups of children such as unaccompanied minors benefit from humanitarian protections unavailable to adults.

The former Scottish prime minister has said poverty rather than alcoholism, drug addiction or abuse is resulting in children being handed over to social services.

Ukraine has condemned a decree signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin making it possible to confer Russian citizenship on Ukrainian children moved to Russia. Last March, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin over Russia's policy of forced child deportations. The Ukrainian foreign ministry called the decree illegal.

The goal of this study was to improve the understanding of current children’s services structures and delivery models in Scotland and how services can best support the needs of children, young people and their families. The research looked at how services are provided and configured in Scotland and drew on a range of international evidence too.

This document presents an overview of the first version of the EU monitoring framework for the European Child Guarantee (ECG). It was developed by the Indicators’ Sub-Group (ISG) of the Social Protection Committee (SPC) and the European Commission, and endorsed by the SPC in November 2023.