According to the advocacy organization, First Focus, the U.S. Senate Finance Committee is planning to consider new legislation known as the Family First Act in January 2016. The legislation would direct investments at keeping children safe and supported at home and in family-like settings.
The United Nations, Department for Economic and Social Affairs, Division for Social Policy and Development released the Final Report of the Expert Group Meeting (EGM) on "Family Policy Development: Achievements and Challenges” which was produced after the 14-15 May 2015 EGM. The meeting focused on changing families, family law reforms, violence in the family and their impact on family policy development.
A press release from the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India recapped a series of new initiatives by the Ministry during 2015. The achievements relevant to children’s care are briefly described below and include the launch of the flagship programme Beti Bachao Beto Padhao for protection of the girl child; several initiatives to track, restore, and rehabilitate missing children; and adoption reforms and a new foster care system.
In this TED talk, pediatrician Nadine Burke Harris explains how childhood trauma--such as abuse, neglect and parents struggling with mental health or substance abuse--has real, tangible effects on the development of the child's brain. Children who have experienced high levels of trauma and adverse childhood experiences are at triple the risk for heart disease and lung cancer. This is because of the body's stress response system, which is activated repeatedly during childhood by the adversity.
This study carried out in the United States used a lens of family stress theory to explore adoptive parents’ responses to unexpected characteristics of their children.
This study in India sought to develop the SAFE Checklist in order to assess site-level threats to child protection among children and families living in settings of adversity. The tool was field tested in two diverse sites in India (a construction site and a railway station) and the results demonstrated that the SAFE Checklist is a sensitive tool that captured the differences between the two sites from the standpoint of core child protection issues.
On July 27–29, 2015, the Forum on Investing in Young Children Globally, in partnership with the Ethiopian Academy of Sciences, held a workshop in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to examine topics related to supporting family and community investments in young children globally.
The State of Grandfamilies in America 2015 identifies key state laws and policies designed to address barriers and to better support grandparents and other relatives raising children. The report also offers recommendations to help guide the development of supportive federal and state policies and services for grandfamilies.
This guide, published by the New York State Office of Children and Family Services, provides a summary of promising practices currently used in recruitment and retention of foster/adoptive families.
The Kingdom of Cambodia signed into law on 8 December 2015 the Sub-Decree on the Management of Residential Care.
