The lack of care and protection facing children is a global crisis with billions of children experiencing abuse, neglect or exploitation, and many millions growing up outside of families, on the streets or in harmful institutional care. This lack of adequate care and protection is commonly the result of inequalities. Children without adequate care and protection are stigmatized and have inequitable access to basic services which, severely diminishes life chances and creates a spiral of disadvantage. In order to break this spiral, the authors of this report recommend a three-pronged strategy.

In the recently released outcome document of the Fifth International Policy Conference on the African Child, conference delegates call for a reversal of the current trend of resorting to intercountry adoption as a primary solution for African children in need of alternative care, and for giving prime priority to enabling all children in Africa to remain with their families and communities.

The literature review, “Ethical Principles, Dilemmas and Risks in Collecting Data on Violence against Children” aims to capture current thinking around ethical issues and provide empirical support to guide recommendations for ethical research practice and decision-making in collecting data on violence against children (VAC). The review examines documentation that is of specific relevance to research ethics in collecting data on VAC and includes ethics guidelines, codes, protocols and practice related documentation, as well as research-based publications.

In this report, Retrak examines the situation of girls living on the streets in Kampala, Uganda and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and provides key recommendations on the development programs required to address their needs. The report urges for scaling up services, building new facilities for street girls, and building staff capacity to handle issues related to this population.

The report provides guidance on achieving law reform which gives children in alternative care and day care the protection from all forms of corporal and other cruel and degrading punishment that is their absolute right.

The Proceedings report presents summaries of all presentations delivered and of all plenary discussions held during each session of the Fifth International Policy Conference on the African Child (IPC) held on 29 and 30 May 2012 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, which brought together experts, policymakers, and key stakeholders to discuss various issues and the implications of intercountry adoption in Africa.

This guide provides step-by-step guidance and recommendations on how to identify and address gender-related issues that negatively affect vulnerable boys and girls in the local program context. It is intended to be a practical tool for staff involved in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of care and support programs for vulnerable children. It provides directions and recommendations for programs to identify and address gender-related issues that negatively affect vulnerable boys and girls in the local program context.

This briefing note, produced by an Interagency Working Group on children without parental care, was designed to highlight the special vulnerability of children with disabilities who are in alternative care and to encourage members of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) Committee to consider the potential added value of reference to the Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children.

In this TED Talk, Daniela Papi - founder of PEPY, a Cambodian youth leadership organization, and PEPY Tours, a development education travel company - speaks of the ways that international volunteering can be harmful to children and communities and urges volunteers and organizations to rethink “voluntourism.”

Virginia Commonwealth University Professors, Karen Smith Rotabi and Rosemary Farmer, examine impact of neglect on brain development in their recent podcast, Orphaned and Vulnerable Children and Brain Development. Through the persepective of the intersection of neuroscience and social welfare practice, Farmer and Rotabi examine how poverty of experience and such potential adverse situations as institutionalization disrupt brain development in babies and young children.