El curso de Formación de Formadores sobre Menores No Acompañados y Separados (FdF MNAS) está diseñado para preparar a los participantes para impartir formación sobre menores no acompañados y separados (MNAS).

La formation de formateurs sur les enfants non accompagnés et séparés de leur famille (FdF ENA) vise à préparer les participants à animer des formations sur ce sujet.

This study examines how care home staff and managers in the UK perceive and respond to children going missing from care, identifying key factors such as communication, relationships, and organizational support that influence prevention and response. Findings highlight the importance of trauma-informed, child-centred, and collaborative approaches, while noting barriers like resource constraints and inconsistent practices, and offer recommendations to improve safeguarding and outcomes.

Child protection systems in low-resource settings face major challenges due to limited infrastructure, weak data systems, and poor coordination, reducing their ability to identify and respond to risks effectively. This article proposes a data-driven framework using digital technologies and analytics to improve early detection, decision-making, and overall service delivery for vulnerable children.

From trusted information and peer support to access to services and emerging AI-enabled tools, digital innovation is reshaping how families seek support, connect with communities, and navigate everyday challenges. This playbook is a practical framework developed by a Digital Expert Group to help governments, practitioners, innovators, and partners design more human-centered, equitable, and scalable digital support ecosystems for families. 

The Vanam Vasapadum initiative evaluated an arts-based, trauma-informed social-emotional learning program for children in institutional care in Tamil Nadu, finding significant improvements in self-esteem and psychological well-being over three years. Both quantitative and qualitative results highlight that creative, holistic interventions can enhance emotional regulation, resilience, and social skills among vulnerable adolescents, suggesting strong potential for broader mental health promotion.

In the wake of major disruptions to U.S. and global foreign assistance, the global community faces an urgent question: How do we sustain and strengthen support for children in adversity in a rapidly changing landscape? The Collaborative on Global Children's Issues co-convened a webinar to mark the release of two new reports that respond to this moment.

Strong, well-executed evaluations are critical to improving outcomes in the U.S. child welfare system, yet limited evidence and persistent barriers continue to hinder the development of rigorous, systematic studies on program effectiveness, implementation, and cost. This three-brief series examines current evidence, agency and design challenges, and opportunities to strengthen evaluation efforts, with the goal of informing systemwide improvements for children, youth, and families.

This report is an overview of Childlight’s Into the Light Index on Global Technology-Facilitated Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse 2026 Data Update. The update focuses on new emerging data as well as updating existing global and regional prevalence and scale data on Technology-Facilitated Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse.

This foster care awareness campaign video, developed by Child in Family Focus Kenya (CFFK) in collaboration with Zaidi Ya Dreams and the State Department for Children Services, shines a light on the importance of foster care in Kenya and the urgent need for children to grow up in safe, loving fam

This article reports on a new analysis by the Brookings Institution estimating that over 100,000 children—most of them U.S. citizens—have been separated from a parent due to immigration detention and deportation policies under the current administration.

Desarrollada por el Grupo de Trabajo sobre Separación Familiar en colaboración con organizaciones nacionales e internacionales de confianza que trabajan directamente con familias afectadas, esta guía informativa orienta a padres, madres, cuidadores y las personas que les ayudan a comprender mejor sus derechos, conocer las opciones disponibles para la reunificación e identificar recursos que puedan contribuir a encontrar la mejor solución para cada niño, niña, adolescente y su familia.

Developed through the Family Separation Working Group in partnership with trusted national and international organizations on the front lines of supporting families, this practical guide helps parents, caregivers, and those assisting them understand their rights, learn about reunification options, and identify resources that may support them in finding the best solution for their child and family.

This large-scale study across eight African countries finds that the Parenting for Lifelong Health programme is associated with significant reductions in physical and emotional abuse, improved parenting practices, and better mental health outcomes for both caregivers and adolescents. It demonstrates that evidence-based parenting interventions can be effectively delivered at scale—even in humanitarian contexts—while maintaining strong positive impacts.

This study explores how children and youth in residential care in Australia understand the concept of “home,” finding it is often defined by the absence of harm but marked by gaps in security, control, relationships, and belonging. It concludes that institutional structures and staff instability limit meaningful experiences of home, highlighting the need for more consistent, relational, and youth-centered care environments.

For nearly 30 years, U.S. federal legislation shaping adoption has remained largely unchanged, even as expectations around privacy, youth voice, and family support have significantly evolved. This toolkit offers practical strategies and resources to modernize policy and practice, centering young people’s agency across consent, privacy, family recruitment, and post-adoption support.

This technical brief highlights parenting support strategies and interventions that can benefit parents and help them create better spaces for children with developmental delays and disabilities to thrive. The brief includes data on children with developmental delays and disabilities and features country examples from around the world.

With an estimated 37-42 million children on the move globally, this publication underscores the urgent need to place children’s rights at the center of migration governance. Drawing on promising practices from countries including Thailand, Jordan, Mexico and Uganda, the report highlights practical, rights-based solutions that address children’s specific vulnerabilities while promoting their protection, development and inclusion.

This introductory prevention learning package has been developed by the Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action and was updated in 2026. The package is designed to strengthen participants’ overall understanding of primary prevention in Child Protection in Humanitarian Action.

This document includes statistics on looked after children for Scotland for 2024-25. It covers data on children who are looked after, young people in continuing care, and young people eligible for aftercare services.

This webi­nar pre­sent­ed by the Urban Insti­tute and spon­sored by the Annie E. Casey Foun­da­tion explored approach­es to strength­en­ing eval­u­a­tion in child wel­fare ser­vices in the United States to more rapid­ly and prac­ti­cal­ly doc­u­ment what works.

This study explores how kinship carers in Australia define success in statutory kinship care, emphasizing everyday experiences, emotional bonds, and a child-in-context perspective rather than traditional child protection metrics. It concludes that success is best understood through strong family relationships and belonging, calling for more family-centered support systems that prioritize carers’ and children’s lived experiences.

Family-oriented policies can accelerate social progress with family and child benefit policies stabilizing households when most vulnerable. This year's observance of the International Day of Families commemoration at the UN aims to demonstrate that engagement at international level is essential to elevate early family investment as a core social development priority. 

Families, inequality, and child well-being are deeply connected. This report, commissioned by UN DESA for the International Day of Families, examines how global and regional patterns of inequality shape family formation, early childhood and child outcomes in the context of the 2030 Agenda. It analyses trends in income inequality, poverty, fertility, under-five mortality, education and broader family well-being, showing how disadvantage can be transmitted across generations when families are not adequately supported.

After working on infectious disease epidemics with the WHO, Dr. Slutkin developed the idea that violence spreads like a contagious disease and can therefore be prevented using similar interruption strategies. In this book he demonstrates that this public health approach can reduce many forms of violence, from community and domestic violence to broader conflict and even potential war.

The book provides a framework for structuring the improvement process and teaches users how to craft actionable questions about system outcomes. Chapters demonstrate analytic methods for answering those questions, grounded in foundational principles of longitudinal research.

This AP article describes how Nigerian troops rescued seven children and two women who had been kidnapped during an attack on an orphanage in Kogi State in April 2026.

The article reports on a landmark case in which a Greenlandic mother, Keira Alexandra Kronvold, successfully challenged Danish authorities for unlawfully removing her newborn shortly after birth based on contested parenting assessments.

This study aims to investigate the psychological factors influencing the mental health of orphans in institutional care in Pakistan, focusing on aspects such as childhood trauma, attachment disruptions, life satisfaction, and social isolation. The findings reveal varying levels of engagement, ranging from active involvement and contentment to feelings of isolation and nostalgia for home.

Using a qualitative approach, this study captures the voices of juveniles in correctional facilities, orphanages and street environments in Zambia. Findings reveal patterns of emotional distress, societal exclusion and systemic failures that contribute to cycles of vulnerability and marginalization.

Unaccompanied children and young people experiencing homelessness are at risk of significant lifelong negative outcomes. Supported accommodation services are a critical response to homelessness; however, these services do not always meet this cohort’s needs. This research project examines the effectiveness of Australia’s supported accommodation services in meeting the needs of unaccompanied children and young people aged 12–24. It proposes principles to guide policy and practice toward a better system.

This qualitative study explores the experiences of street children in Benin City, Nigeria, finding that family breakdown, poverty, abuse, and lack of parental care are key drivers of children leaving home. It shows that once on the streets, children adopt various survival strategies, including informal labor, begging, crime, and substance use, and calls for coordinated government and community action to strengthen families and support reintegration.

This review examines 43 documents on leaving care in Asia, highlighting limited research and significant gaps in policies and practices supporting care leavers. It finds that while some aftercare support exists, insufficient attention is given to young people’s physical and mental health, underscoring the need for stronger, context-specific policies and research in the region.

This report presents findings from a four-year mixed-methods longitudinal study of the experiences of children, carers, and parents in the Out-of-Home Care (OOHC) system. It examines how and why the emotional, social and cultural wellbeing of children varies over the course of their journey through OOHC and provides insights into how policy and practice can better support them.

This study explores how children and young people in out-of-home care in Australia understand and experience “home,” finding it to be a deeply meaningful but complex and evolving concept shaped by relationships, safety, and personal space. It highlights that creating and sustaining a sense of home requires ongoing effort from carers and workers within often challenging care systems.

This study of children in residential care in Pakistan finds that perceived institutional neglect is strongly linked to attachment insecurity, emotional dysregulation, and conduct problems, with attachment insecurity acting as a key mediating factor. The study highlights the importance of enhanced caregiver training, emotional support mechanisms, and the establishment of nurturing and stable environments within residential institutions to promote children’s psychological well-being and social adjustment.

This study evaluates Ireland’s Parental Advocacy and Information Service (PAIS), showing how independent advocacy supports parents involved in child protection cases by improving their understanding of rights, strengthening communication with professionals, and enabling more meaningful participation in decision-making. It finds that advocacy can reduce emotional distress and foster more collaborative relationships, highlighting its potential to transform family support within child protection systems.

This narrative review draws on 17 Australian public inquiry reports to examine systemic factors in residential care that increase risks of harmful sexual behaviour and child sexual exploitation. It identifies key issues—such as poor placement matching, an underprepared workforce, fragmented reporting systems, and disempowering practices—and calls for a shift from individual-focused responses to broader structural reforms.

This brief presents findings from a global mapping of parenting programmes that aim to prevent violence against children and against women while advancing gender equality. It offers practical guidance for policymakers, programme designers, and implementers on how to develop, scale, and strengthen parenting interventions that promote safer, more equitable family environments.

Developed to support efforts to strengthen the child protection system in the Philippines, this report documents two complementary approaches to delivering child protection services. Drawing on fieldwork, stakeholder consultations, and system analysis, the paper presents how local government-led Child Protection Centers and hospital-based Women and Children Protection Units provide integrated, child-focused, survivor-centered responses to violence against children.

This scoping review highlights the limited evidence on young people aged 15–17 entering care for the first time, with only five studies meeting inclusion criteria. It finds that care entry for this group is linked to complex individual and family factors, underscoring the need for more diverse and in-depth research to better inform early interventions and prevention strategies.

This narrative review analyzes 161 recent studies across 67 countries on the shift from institutional to family-based care, finding that while most research supports de-institutionalization, it is often limited by small samples, qualitative methods, and weak study designs. It highlights significant evidence gaps and calls for more rigorous, transparent, and replicable research to better inform policy and practice.

This study examines the experiences of care-experienced adults over 25 living in supported housing in England, highlighting the challenges they face after aging out of statutory support, including homelessness and social isolation. It finds that sustained emotional and practical support, such as that provided by the Rees Foundation, is critical in promoting stability, safety, and hope, underscoring the need for extended services for this often-overlooked group.

This country care profile provides an overview of key lessons learned in the children’s care reform process in Uganda, including successes, challenges and areas for progress, and gaps in learning and best practice.

At a time when the Global Charter on Children’s Care Reform is calling for stronger commitment and action to ensure children grow up in safe and loving families, FAFICA collaborated with the Global Campaign on Children’s Care Reform Working Group to convene the webinar “Over 30 Million Reasons to Act: Advancing Family Care for Children in Africa.”

This review examines interventions for orphans and vulnerable children in South Africa, identifying a wide range of approaches but highlighting uneven coverage, limited evidence on effectiveness, and challenges such as insufficient funding and government support. It concludes that more sustainable impact requires integrated interventions that first address basic needs and then support children’s psychological and developmental well-being.

This study examines the long-term effects of early institutional care in Zurich, finding that infants exposed to severe psychosocial deprivation faced significantly higher mortality risk and lost an estimated 12 years of life compared to peers raised in the community. It highlights that lack of nurturing interaction in early childhood has lasting consequences into adulthood, underscoring the critical importance of responsive care for child health and survival.

This study explores the large-scale implementation of the Parenting for Lifelong Health for Teens (PLH-Teens) program in Tanzania, examining implementers’ experiences in delivering a parenting intervention to over 75,000 beneficiaries in a low-resource setting. It finds that while scaling evidence-based programs to reduce violence against children is feasible, long-term success depends on government support, strong local engagement, and addressing practical challenges to sustain implementation at scale.

This report presents findings from the SEEDs community-led child protection pilot implemented in Manica Province, Mozambique (2023–2024). The approach aimed to strengthen community ownership, enhance local capacity, and generate evidence for scalable child protection programming.

This study examines the challenges of deinstitutionalization (DI) in Ghana, particularly for child trafficking survivors, highlighting how structural, socio-cultural, and economic factors hinder safe reintegration into family-based care. It finds that while policies promote alternatives to institutional care, effective DI requires sustained investment in community services, poverty reduction, and trauma-informed support to prevent re-trafficking and ensure long-term child well-being.

This study examines institutional care policy and operations in Nigeria using a qualitative literature review, with a focus on how children’s rights frameworks shape child welfare practices. The study concludes that institutions can be improved to be comparable to family living but they should be the last resort.

The 2025 BICON Conference Summary Report captures the outcomes of the 6th Biennial International Conference, held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 15–16 October 2025. It brings together key discussions, insights, and recommendations from across the conference, providing a clear direction for strengthening care reform and advancing inclusive, family-based systems for children.

The 2025 BICON Conference Report captures the outcomes of the 6th Biennial International Conference, held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 15–16 October 2025. It brings together key discussions, insights, and recommendations from across the conference, providing a clear direction for strengthening care reform and advancing inclusive, family-based systems for children.

This study finds that adolescents in residential care in Chile report lower levels of subjective well-being than their peers in the general population, with notable gender differences in how well-being is experienced. The findings highlight the need for more targeted policies and interventions that address both emotional and cognitive aspects of well-being for young people in care.

This study examines the early stages of deinstitutionalization in Zimbabwe, finding that progress is hindered by inconsistent processes, limited workforce capacity, and resistance from institutional stakeholders. It highlights the need for clearer guidelines, stronger training, and better support systems to enable effective transitions from institutional to family-based care.

This qualitative study of a community-based foster care programme in Kenya finds that successful placements depend on foster parent commitment, supportive family relationships, children’s emotional adjustment, and strong community cultural values. It highlights the importance of careful caregiver–child matching, ongoing support, and community engagement to strengthen foster care outcomes and sustainability.

This study of homeless former foster youth in California highlights the complex and often contradictory nature of their foster care experiences, with some reporting belonging and identity support alongside loneliness, unmet needs, discrimination, and abuse. The findings underscore the importance of centering youth perspectives to better inform child welfare services and prevent homelessness among care leavers.

This study finds that grandparenting as primary care in China is generally associated with lower overall and social-emotional development among preschool children. However, it can have a protective effect for children living with a single parent—particularly in low-income families—highlighting the need for targeted support and training for grandparent caregivers.

This study of young people in residential care in Romania finds that childhood trauma and maladaptive coping are linked to poorer perceived social skills, while adaptive coping is associated with better outcomes. It also shows that self-efficacy plays a key moderating role, highlighting the importance of building both confidence and adaptive coping skills to support healthy social development regardless of trauma exposure.

This article reviews 43 grey literature sources on care-leaving policies and practices in Asia, addressing a major gap in research from the Global South. It finds that while some aftercare supports exist, they are uneven and often overlook young people’s physical and mental health needs, with important implications for improving policy, practice, and future research.

This study finds that young people in China experience leaving state care as a gradual, emotionally and materially complex transition shaped by readiness, relationships, and access to housing and income, while staff tend to frame it as a fixed administrative cutoff with limited follow-up support. It highlights systemic gaps—such as fragmented responsibilities, hukou-related transitions, and abrupt loss of support—and calls for more gradual, coordinated, and well-supported pathways to independence.

يوفّر هذا الفيديو لمحة موجزة عن المذكّرة الإرشاديّة لطلب المساعدة الفنّيّة، والتي توضّح كيفية قيام الحكومات بطلب الدعم الفني من فريق من مستشاري إصلاح أنظمة الرعاية، وذلك من أجل تطوير الالتزامات أو البدء في تنفيذها. وتشمل هذه الإرشادات وصفًا لأنواع المساعدة الفنية المتاحة، وطرق تقديمها، بالإضافة إلى دليل إرشادي خطوة بخطوة لتقديم طلبات الدعم.

وقد تشمل أمثلة المساعدة الفنية، على سبيل المثال لا الحصر: إجراء مراجعة فنية لالتزامات الدول، تيسير تقييمات أنظمة الرعاية، دعم التدريبات، توفير موارد ونماذج إرشادية، أو إعداد مسودات لوثائق وأدوات داعمة.

وفّر هذا الفيديو لمحة موجزة عن المذكّرة الإرشاديّة لطلب المساعدة الفنّيّة، والتي توضّح كيفية قيام الحكومات بطلب الدعم الفني من فريق من مستشاري إصلاح أنظمة الرعاية، وذلك من أجل تطوير الالتزامات أو البدء في تنفيذها. وتشمل هذه الإرشادات وصفًا لأنواع المساعدة الفنية المتاحة، وطرق تقديمها، بالإضافة إلى دليل إرشادي خطوة بخطوة لتقديم طلبات الدعم.

Cette vidéo présente brièvement la note d'orientation pour demander une assistance technique, qui donne des instructions claires sur la manière dont les gouvernements peuvent demander l’aide technique d’une équipe de conseillers sur la réforme de la prise en charge afin d’élaborer ou de commencer à mettre en œuvre ces engagements. Elle comprend une description des différents types d’assistance technique disponibles, comment cette assistance peut être procurée ainsi que les différentes étapes pour soumettre une demande d’assistance technique.

Cette vidéo présente brièvement la note d'orientation pour demander une assistance technique, qui donne des instructions claires sur la manière dont les gouvernements peuvent demander l’aide technique d’une équipe de conseillers sur la réforme de la prise en charge afin d’élaborer ou de commencer à mettre en œuvre ces engagements. Elle comprend une description des différents types d’assistance technique disponibles, comment cette assistance peut être procurée ainsi que les différentes étapes pour soumettre une demande d’assistance technique.

Este video ofrece una breve descripción de la Nota guía para solicitar asistencia técnica, que ofrece instrucciones claras sobre cómo los gobiernos pueden solicitar asistencia técnica a un equipo especializado de reforma del cuidado, ya sea para desarrollar o empezar a implementar esos compromisos. Describe los diferentes tipos de asistencia técnica disponibles, las modalidades en que se puede proporcionar y una guía paso a paso para presentar las solicitudes.

Este video ofrece una breve descripción de la Guía para el desarrollo de compromisos, que apoya a los gobiernos en el diseño de compromisos ambiciosos, medibles y específicos para cada contexto que correspondan a los principios de la Carta. Incluye criterio práctico, ejemplos y enfoques participativos para garantizar que los compromisos sean realistas, cuenten con los recursos necesarios y respondan a las necesidades de las niñas, niños y adolescentes.

This webinar celebrated a decade of evidence in action and highlight the next phase of INSPIRE’s global implementation and research agenda. It brought together global leaders, researchers, and practitioners to discuss what the new evidence means for countries, sectors, and systems working to end violence against children.

This webinar held in partnership with Save the Children and the Global Social Service Workforce Alliance (GSSWA) focuses on Strengthening the Community-Level Social Welfare Workforce (CLSWW). The session presents key learnings from the nine‑country analysis and introduces new practical guidance to help practitioners, governments, and partners strengthen the CLSWW through a Child Protection Systems Strengthening (CPSS) and localization lens.

This historical overview documents milestones in the evolution of the U.S. government’s work to support the development, care, and protection of children globally, as well as coordination efforts across the U.S. government to promote a holistic response to the needs of vulnerable children. It draws on a review of publicly available documentation and conversations with numerous United States Agency for International Development (USAID) staff and partners involved in work on behalf of highly vulnerable children over more than three decades.

The brief outlines a nurturing care approach for early childhood development that integrates health, nutrition, safety, responsive caregiving, and early learning to support children’s well-being and long-term outcomes. It highlights that children with developmental delays and disabilities face heightened risks of exclusion and calls for inclusive, family-centered policies and services that strengthen community-based support and ensure equitable access to care.

This study examines the impact of clientelism on reintegration and family-strengthening efforts for children in Cambodian and Myanmar residential care institutions where clientelism is present. It finds that patron–client relationships between directors and families often undermine reintegration by limiting parental agency and co-opting reintegration to serve the interests of directors rather than children.

From 28–30 January 2026, fifty representatives from governments, civil society, faith-based organisations, UN agencies, academia, and young people with experience of care gathered at Wilton Park in the UK to discuss how the Global Campaign for Children’s Care Reform can move from commitment to collective action. This report provides a record of the dialogue. 

This blog describes a new initiative led by Lumos Foundation in partnership with UNICEF Moldova to expand early childhood intervention services for children with disabilities across Moldova, aiming to prevent family separation and improve developmental outcomes.

This podcast explores why many U.S. Christians continue to financially support orphanages despite believing children thrive best in families, highlighting a gap between values and giving behaviors. Drawing on Barna research, it examines misconceptions, emotional drivers, and practical barriers influencing donor choices, while encouraging a shift toward family-based care and more ethical, community-centered engagement.

This article explores how well parent advocacy training programs prepare advocates for their roles in the child welfare system, drawing on perspectives from advocates, parents, and child protective services workers. It finds that while foundational training is valuable, more comprehensive, experiential, and collaborative approaches—especially in areas like legal knowledge, mental health, and system navigation—are needed to better equip advocates and strengthen family engagement outcomes.

This paper examines how broader economic and labour market forces influence family separation and the placement of children in residential care in Cambodia, amid ongoing child care deinstitutionalisation reforms. While global evidence highlights the harm caused by residential care and promotes family and community-based alternatives, Cambodia’s reform efforts remain largely reactive and institution-focused, paying limited attention to structural drivers of family separation.

This paper sets out guidelines on the specific challenges arising when domestic violence crosses international borders. It puts forth 15 core principles to guide states, courts and other professionals in better addressing cross-border family violence. It is intended to support implementation and encourage cooperation across jurisdictions and sectors in order to enhance the protection of children and families.

This article examines how Arab-Israeli children experience participation in decision-making committees within child protection services. It explores the cultural and systemic factors that both enable and hinder their meaningful participation, highlighting the need for more culturally sensitive and child-friendly approaches.

This article explores how social welfare officers in Tanzania experience and manage the reintegration of institutionalised orphans back into family care. It examines the strategies they use, the challenges they face, and the broader systems needed to support sustainable, child-centered reintegration.

This webinar, held March 27, 2026 by the Care Leaders Council, provided an international exchange among people with lived experience in care, aimed at analyzing regulatory progress, best practices, and challenges in the transition to ind

Thailand has a long history of social work and a legal framework recognizing the profession. However, social needs are growing in scale and complexity, while the social service workforce remains under resourced, unevenly distributed, and insufficiently supported. The assessment examined professional social workers, other social service professionals, paraprofessionals, and volunteers across government and non government sectors at national and sub national levels.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is the largest federal nutrition program in the United States, serving about 42 million people and helping reduce food insecurity, with roughly 40% of recipients being youth. This policy brief focuses on how recent federal changes put youth aging out of foster care at risk of losing SNAP benefits and recommends reinstating eligibility waivers, strengthening state transition services, and protecting data on food insecurity for this vulnerable population.

This report examines the transition of young people aging out of institutional care into independent adulthood. It highlights how many care leavers face significant challenges after turning 18, including limited access to education, employment, and stable housing, as well as a lack of life skills and supportive social networks.

My Life Storybook is a child-centered tool developed by children in collaboration with Child in Family Focus - Kenya (CFFK), the Kenya Ministry or Labour and Social Protection, and other relevant stakeholders to help children in care  document their history, reflect on their experiences, and strengthen their sense of identity and belonging. The tool is currently being used in CFFK's programs to support reintegration and family strengthening.

This study explores why street children resist removal interventions and often return to the streets in Zambia, drawing on perspectives from children, caregivers, and guardians. It finds that factors such as poverty, family conflict, abuse, and inadequate conditions in care facilities drive both initial street involvement and reintegration failure, highlighting the need for more comprehensive and coordinated interventions.

This article examines the challenges of family reunification for children in alternative care in South Africa, identifying factors related to parents and children that can make reunification unfeasible. It argues that while reunification is a key right, it must be balanced with child safety, emphasizing the need for stronger permanency planning for children who cannot return home.

This article examines how child protection systems continue to reflect colonial power by disproportionately intervening in Indigenous families and undermining cultural practices and kinship systems. It highlights growing Indigenous-led movements to reclaim authority over child welfare, emphasizing self-determination and the rebuilding of care systems grounded in Indigenous laws, values, and relationships.

This study explores how minors in out-of-family care in Belgium experience placements and what improvements they recommend, based on interviews with youth in residential facilities. It finds that placements are often confusing and disruptive, and emphasizes the need for more child-centered, developmentally appropriate care that addresses both emotional needs and everyday living conditions.

This article explores the parenting support needs of young mothers in Aotearoa New Zealand who grew up in out-of-home care, highlighting how their childhood experiences shape their access to and perceptions of support. It finds that these mothers face significant barriers and fears in engaging with services, underscoring the need for specialized, independent parenting support as part of after-care.

This paper reflects on an author’s return to former orphanage sites in Australia—now repurposed as commercial properties—where personal memories of abuse and neglect resurface. It explores how survivor testimony and memory activism can challenge the erasure of these histories, highlighting tensions between commercial interests and efforts to memorialize sites of past harm.

This study examines the physical and psychological well-being of children and adolescents in residential care facilities in Mexico, addressing a major gap in systematic data. It finds that well-being levels are often below desired standards and that institutional responses only partially meet child protection principles, highlighting the need for improved practices, training, and coordination.

This paper explores the experiences of informal caregivers in South Africa supporting youth with intellectual disabilities and/or autism as they transition from residential care to adulthood. It finds that caregivers play a vital role but face significant challenges, including inadequate transition planning, limited aftercare services, and insufficient formal support.

This briefing is intended to prompt discussion about how the use of artificial intelligence could improve the experiences of families and professionals in the family justice system in the UK. It also outlines the challenges and risks involved, and the governance required for safe usage.

This article examines how child protection policy is implemented at the local level in North Central Timor, highlighting existing legal frameworks, institutional arrangements, and budget allocations. It finds that while regional governments have established regulations and programs, formal child protection policies are lacking at the village level despite some related activities supporting children’s rights.

This article presents a meta-analysis of 41 studies examining the prevalence, risk factors, and consequences of emotional abuse and neglect among children in Arab countries, finding that nearly half of children are affected. It highlights key drivers such as parental divorce and low education, as well as serious outcomes like behavioral disorders and suicidal ideation, and calls for culturally tailored prevention and stronger child protection systems.

This systematic review synthesised qualitative research on care-experienced children’s pathways into and through the criminal justice system, highlighting how factors such as trauma, a search for belonging, systemic challenges, and intersectionality shape their experiences. The findings underscore the need for trauma-informed approaches, stronger support systems, and reduced unnecessary criminal justice involvement to better respond to the needs of care-experienced children.

This study of adolescents in residential care in Portugal found that perceptions of psychological adjustment differ significantly between adolescents and their caregivers, with adolescents consistently reporting more emotional, behavioral, and peer-related difficulties. The findings highlight low agreement between informants and emphasize the need for multi-informant, developmentally sensitive assessments, greater inclusion of adolescents’ perspectives, and improved caregiver training and tailored mental health support.