It is estimated that about 2 million children around the world are living in institutions, though the true figure may be higher. However, according to this article, the number of institutions globally is in decline.

The well known radio show This American Life has collaborated with Planet Money to investigate the work of a charity called GiveDirectly. Instead of funding schools or wells or livestock, GiveDirectly has decided to just give money directly to the poor people who need it, and let them decide how to spend it.

This concept note from the Better Care Network (BCN), the Child Protection in Crisis Learning Network (CPC Learning Network) and the Child Protection Monitoring and Evaluation Reference Group (CP MERG) calls for the participation of other leading organizations in an inter-agency coalition, the Children’s Care Research Initiative, in an effort to strengthen the evidence base around the best ways to improve care for children and to reinforce global capacity to utilize this evidence.

In her annual report to the UN General Assembly, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General highlights the results of an expert consultation on violence in early childhood. The consultation highlighted the urgency of supporting families and caregivers in their child-rearing responsibilities and securing a responsive national child protection system to strengthen families’ capacity to raise young children in safe environments and prevent child abandonment and placement in residential care.

This framework outlines what the Key Assets team understand by quality family based foster care and recognises the collective responsibility to promote the rights of children worldwide. Seven standards for providing quality foster care are outlined in this publication.

This paper highlights the importance of promoting active fatherhood in achieving Save the Children’s goals. The paper suggests that engaging fathers in caregiving and building stronger relationships with their children can help to better protect and meet the needs of children.

In his blog post, Harold Goodwin explains how learning about the unintended negative impacts of orphanage volunteering and how the decision was made to remove orphanage volunteering trips from responsibletravel.com’ offerings.

On Wednesday, July 31 2013, UNICEF launched its “#ENDviolence against children” campaign.

One “ethically-minded” tourism company in the UK is shutting down 10 orphanage tours because the firm believes that “orphanage volunteers, despite their best intentions, are part of the problem rather than the solution for children living in poverty throughout the world."

A coalition of over 40 international, regional and national NGOs and networks have issued a joint call to member States of the United Nations General Assembly (UN GA) to focus the 2014 Resolution on the Rights of the Child on strengthening family care and providing appropriate alternative care for children.