Tara Winkler, a former NSW Young Australian of the Year, warns against the dangers of allowing foreign volunteers into orphanages. Ms Winkler says potential abusers are not being vetted among a high volume of visitors to Cambodia's 600 orphanages

Professor Robbie Gilligan discusses a “policy blind spot” in Ireland resulting from a lack of data collection on the education of children in the care system, including the percentage of those children who go on to university. Ireland recently launched a new National Plan for Equity of Access to Higher Education 2015-2019 to improve access to education for disadvantaged groups, but the new plan is silent on the educational needs for children in care. 

Since 2012, over 7,500 foster children in New South Wales, Australia have been transferred from the care of the Department of Family and Community Services to non-governmental organizations, a move that was expected to improve their wellbeing. However, recent criticism has focused on the failure to monitor and track whether this change has resulted in any improvements to the health, education, and welfare of these children. 

This set of guiding principles aim to improve the collaboration between the NSW Department of Family and Community Services (FACS) and Aboriginal communities on child protection matters. It is intended to be a guide that may be used by Aboriginal communities and regional FACS offices across NSW.

The 18th Biennial International Foster Care Conference “Tell Someone Who Cares,” hosted by the International Foster Care Organisation (IFCO), will take place in Sydney, Australia.

This article from the BBC tells the story of Pamela Smedley, a woman who was sent to an orphanage in Australia from a children’s home in the UK in 1949, at the age of 13, on what she was told was a “day-trip.”

The number of Aboriginal children in the child welfare system in the state of Western Australian has reached “crisis levels,” according to this article from PerthNow. 

This research aimed to solicit the lived experiences of African Australian young refugee women who have experienced early motherhood in Australia.

A former orphanage director in Victoria, Australia may stand trial for the alleged sexual abuse of children under his care in the institution over 50 years ago.

In this position statement, the Association of Massage Therapists (AMT) of Australia clearly states that it does not endorse orphanage volunteering, referring to the positions of  the Better Care Network, UNICEF, Save the Children and the ChildSafe network.