Evaluation of the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Reporting of Maltreatment Cases to the National Family Safety Program in Saudi Arabia

Evaluation of the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Reporting of Maltreatment Cases to the National Family Safety Program in Saudi Arabia
Shuliweeh Alenezi, Mahdi Alnamnakani, Mohamad-Hani Temsah, Rozan Murshid, Fahad Alfahad, Haitham Alqurashi, Hana Alonazy, Mohamad Alothman, Majid A. Aleissa

This report found that the types of abuse and the characteristics of both abused children and offenders in Saudi Arabia saw significant changes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sexual and emotional abuses were reported more frequently, and the male gender is considered to feature more commonly in reports prior to the pandemic era than during the pandemic.

Screening for Trauma and Behavioral Health Needs in Child Welfare: Practice implications for promoting placement stability

Screening for Trauma and Behavioral Health Needs in Child Welfare: Practice implications for promoting placement stability
Becci A. Akin, Crystal Collins-Camargo, Jessica Strolin-Goltzman, Becky Antle, A. Nathan Verbist, Ashley N. Palmer, Alison Krompf

Findings of this report suggest that early screenings for trauma and behavioral health needs may provide important information that could be used to identify children's needs, make appropriate service referrals, establish well-matched placements, and support resource parents and birth parents toward better permanency outcomes.

Physical Abuse of Young Children During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Alarming Increase in the Relative Frequency of Hospitalizations During the Lockdown Period

Physical Abuse of Young Children During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Alarming Increase in the Relative Frequency of Hospitalizations During the Lockdown Period
Mélanie Loiseau, Jonathan Cottenet, Sonia Bechraoui-Quantin, Séverine Gilard-Pioc, Yann Mikaeloff, Fabrice Jollant, Irène François-Purssell, Andreas Jud, Catherine Quantin

In France, the COVID-19 pandemic led to a general lockdown from mid-March to mid-May 2020, forcing families to remain confined. This study found a significant increase in the relative frequency of young children hospitalized for physical abuse from 2017 (0.053%) to 2020 (0.073%).

Care Reform in Malawi: A Virtual Study Tour

Care Reform in Malawi: A Virtual Study Tour
Emily Delap of Child Frontiers, UNICEF Malawi country office, UNICEF ESARO, Changing the Way We Care, Government of Malawi

This virtual study tour aims to provide you with an overview of care reform in Malawi from the comfort of your own home. Care reform relates to the care of children. It refers to efforts to improve the legal and policy frameworks, structures, services, supports and resources that determine and deliver alternative care, prevent family separation and support families to care for children well.

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Caring Systems: Maximising Synergies Between Care Reform and Child Protection System Strengthening in Eastern and Southern Africa

Caring Systems: Maximising Synergies Between Care Reform and Child Protection System Strengthening in Eastern and Southern Africa
UNICEF ESARO, Changing the Way We Care

This paper promotes a system strengthening approach to care reform. It begins with an explanation of child protection and care and the relationship between these two concepts. It goes on to explain why system strengthening is needed to improve children’s care, and how care reform can be carried out systematically, using a range of examples from across the Eastern and Southern Africa region. The paper is aimed at UNICEF country office staff, government and others working on children’s care and protection in the region.

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Practical Guide on How to Protect Family Unity and Reunification More Effectively in Human Mobility and Mixed Movement Contexts During the Ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic

Practical Guide on How to Protect Family Unity and Reunification More Effectively in Human Mobility and Mixed Movement Contexts During the Ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights

The guide recommends a series of measures aimed at States, which focus on protecting family unity, preventing separation, and ensuring reunification in the context of human mobility, including for unaccompanied or separated children and adolescents, who require international protection or who leave their homes in search of better opportunities or family reunification.

South American Panorama of Adoption Practices: Cases of Countries in Transformation

South American Panorama of Adoption Practices: Cases of Countries in Transformation
Child Identity Protection (CHIP)

This research brought together the testimonies of adoption professionals (national and international) concerned with the situation of abandoned and placed children in five South American countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia and Peru. The aim of this study is to gain a better understanding of the new realities of adoption, in a context where these countries have chosen to limit or stop their foreign adoption practices.