This study examines the educational barriers faced by children in institutional care in India, identifying how structural rigidity, limited resources, stigma, and emotional neglect undermine equitable access to meaningful learning. Drawing on qualitative insights from care and education professionals, it highlights the critical role of social work in advancing child-centred, rights-based approaches to transform institutional care into an environment that supports inclusion, wellbeing, and educational equity.

This paper explores the lived experiences of Bhutanese unaccompanied and separated refugee children living in camps in eastern Nepal, examining how they navigate prolonged displacement, statelessness, and institutional neglect through ethnographic and narrative methods. It argues that these children exist in a “state-of-nowhere,” rendered politically and administratively invisible within refugee governance systems, and calls for rights-based, child-centred responses that address the structural and epistemic violence shaping their exclusion.

This qualitative study examines the lived experiences, motivations, and expectations of foster parents in Albania as the country transitions from institutional to family-based care, drawing on in-depth interviews with all active foster families at the time of the research. Findings reveal that fostering is driven by faith and compassion but shaped by limited state support, social stigma, and increasing awareness of children’s trauma, offering rare insight into how institutional and social contexts affect the sustainability of foster care in Albania.

This paper explores the mental health and wellbeing of care-experienced girls in Pakistan, highlighting how structural and systemic factors shape their experiences. Using focus group data, it identifies limited mental health awareness, gender discrimination and harassment, and restricted opportunities as key challenges, and offers recommendations framed within children’s and women’s rights to better support their futures.

This study examines how the introduction of a conditional cash transfer program in Peru affects parental discipline practices. It finds that in districts receiving the program, reports of physical punishment by mothers and fathers among low-income families decrease by at least 2.7 percentage points (11%), suggesting the program may provide additional benefits by reducing harsh disciplinary practices.

This book reflects two decades of work by the International Network on Transitions to Adulthood from Care (INTRAC) to advance academic research and policy reform on leaving care globally. It includes thirty-two country chapters, each providing background information and key statistics on children in care and care leavers based on available national data.

This book chapter examines the child welfare system, parental challenges, and family resistance, presenting a theoretical framework for building family resilience. It highlights stressors such as financial instability and mental health issues, and emphasizes collaborative, dignity-centered strategies that combine social work, mental health, and community support to improve outcomes for parents and children.

This article examines how gendered power dynamics influence restorative approaches to child protection, showing that traditional practices can marginalize children, especially girls and gender-diverse individuals. It highlights the potential for restorative justice to be transformed into a more inclusive and equitable system that addresses harm while challenging systemic power imbalances.

War negatively affects adults’ mental and physical health, which in turn impacts their parenting, exposing children to both direct and indirect stressors. This book examines these consequences, using evidence-based research and case studies from the Russian-Ukrainian war to highlight the importance of attachment, trauma-informed support, and interventions for families during and after conflict.

In Kenya, young people’s experiences of residential care and life after leaving care highlight trade-offs between material support, emotional guidance, and personal freedom. The study emphasizes that family strengthening and individualized case management are crucial to support children reunifying with families and successfully transitioning out of residential care.