This guidance is intended to support colleagues who are already engaged in this area of work in strengthening the Community-Level Social Welfare Workforce (CLSWW) through a reflective, collaborative, and Child Protection Systems Strengthening (CPSS) approach. The guidance outlines a practical assessment and strategy development process in a step-by-step manner, enabling country offices —together with government counterparts and other child protection organizations—to identify strengths, gaps, and priorities, and to plan and implement targeted actions accordingly.

This global brief examines how sustained humanitarian funding cuts since early 2025 are affecting children’s safety, access to protection services, and the overall capacity of child protection systems across humanitarian contexts. Drawing on insights from 401 practitioners across 68 countries, alongside key informant interviews, the analysis shows that what began as short-term financial disruption has evolved into systemic deterioration.

Too often, child sexual abuse prevention is seen as too complex to scale – too sensitive, siloed, or difficult to measure. In the first study of its kind, Spring Impact reveals how 17 organisations are making scale work in the real-world: reaching more children, embedding prevention into public systems, and sustaining impact over time.

For the second session in CELCIS' Emerging Insight Series they explored what is known about how AI is already being used in decision-making in responding to the care and protection needs of children. The webinar showcased examples from across the world of where systems using AI have been built, the safeguards considered and put in place, how these have been working, and what can be learned from these international case studies, including from the United States of America, the UK and Canada.

This article argues that South Korea’s long-running international adoption system was not just flawed, but driven by state policies that prioritized cost-saving and social control over children’s rights.

The Tiny Cave and the Magnificent Creatures uses the Tiny Cave as a metaphor for the often-unintentional constraints that philanthropy and international development place on young people’s expansive imaginations. Through a puppet animation adapted from the storybook and brought together on the Tiny Cave website, Children's Rights Innovation Fund reflects how funding systems can narrow both young changemakers and those seeking to support them. 

This paper introduces an Advocacy Reach Calculator developed by ChildFund International to estimate how many children and families benefit from child protection policy changes. It outlines the tool’s development and pilot testing in four countries, showing how it can support better monitoring, planning, and advocacy efforts.

Social protection programs, such as cash transfers and pensions, have expanded widely in low- and middle-income countries and play a key role in reducing poverty and supporting vulnerable populations. This handbook reviews the growing body of research on these programs, summarizing what is known and highlighting important gaps for future study.

This study examines how the COVID-19 pandemic affected child protection services in Saudi Arabia, finding increased risks and severity of violence against children alongside challenges such as limited reporting improvements, weak coordination, and insufficient staff training and digital tools. It highlights the need for stronger emergency preparedness, better collaboration across sectors, and improved resources to ensure effective child protection during future crises.

This study explores the challenges faced by young people with disabilities in Japan after leaving residential care, finding they often struggle with adapting to new environments, managing their health, and accessing consistent support. It highlights the need for more structured, long-term support systems to help them successfully transition to independent living.