This literature review explores current international and selected national policy on independent living arrangements and examines the evidence of good practice from existing independent living programmes for care leavers in order to assess how both of the above can be applied to street-connected children.

The Child Protection Working Group (CPWG) commissioned this assessment to assess the effectiveness of the CPWG, structural setup and work methods from 2012 to date in contributing to child protection systems strengthening in Uganda.

Although not conclusive or exhaustive, this agenda represents a bold attempt to identify and prioritise key areas/research themes stemming from the Situation Analysis (2015) and other available evidence on the status of children in Uganda.

This portfolio review of OVC programming in Uganda focuses on several priority issues, including: (1) targeting case management and referral mechanisms; (2) graduation; (3) links with HIV/AIDS care and treatment partners; and (4) overall coordination amongst implementing partners.

This technical advisory paper is prepared for the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development to guide the scope of the National Children Policy expected to replace the existing National Policy on Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children in Uganda which has been in existence for past 12 years.

This manual is intended to train Para-social workers who are a non-formal “workforce” that constitute the largest but yet undefined group of caregivers who provide support and services to vulnerable children and families, particularly in low and middle income countries (GSSA, 2016).

The focus of this manual is on translating theoretical knowledge about policies into practical actions to provide psychosocial support to orphans and vulnerable children.

This study explored the experiences of orphaned children who specifically take on the role of being both mother and father to their siblings.

This handbook is meant as a reference guide to enlighten grandparents and relative caregivers on resources and information that may be available to them and their family. 

This podcast episode discusses the question: do child protection professionals have what they need to support and protect children as the coronavirus makes a comeback?

This brief summarizes the key findings from the Evidence Gap Map on interventions to reduce violence against children in low- and middle-income countries.

This Australian research project explored the prevalence of kinship care households in Australia, with a particular focus on households headed by young kinship carers.

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether Norwegian adolescents in contact with child welfare services (CWS) are at higher risk for substance-related problems (SRP) compared with the general adolescent population, and to what extent those in foster care (FC) differ from those receiving in-home services (IHS).

In this paper, United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children, Najat Maalla M’jid, notes that "progress towards ending all forms of violence against all children is slow and we need to act better, faster and further in bringing violence against children to an end by 2030 as per the commitment in SDG 16.2."

In this short report, the author provides insight into the situation of domestic violence refuges in Norway during the spring of 2020 and their concern for their youngest clients.

This paper examines experts' perceptions of the aims and outcomes of public inquiries, before moving on to consider whether there are more effective and efficient ways of investigating national scandals.

This Dossier aims to show the extent of the problem of children being taken into care in the UK and the trauma of family separation, the supporting evidence self-help groups of mothers are beginning to get from professionals, and to make proposals for action.

This article from the journal of Pediatrics argues that the treatment of migrant children at the U.S. southern border fulfills the criteria for torture and calls on pediatricians and child health professionals to "collaborate with other advocates and advocacy organizations to forge local, national and international responses to stop and prevent torture of migrant children at the border and globally."

This publication includes common questions and answers on the implications of institutional care and why it should be ended. 

This report examines the two-sided dilemma for Venezuelan children during the COVID-19 pandemic: 1) the dire economic situation they faced prior to the declaration of the Coronavirus pandemic and 2) the exacerbating factors that have deepened their vulnerability since the pandemic began.

This set of guiding principles aim to improve the collaboration between the NSW Department of Family and Community Services (FACS) and Aboriginal communities on child protection matters. It is intended to be a guide that may be used by Aboriginal communities and regional FACS offices across NSW.

The pathway and standards set out what all children in or on the edges of secure care in Scotland should expect across the continuum of intensive supports and services.

This paper describes an approach to supporting young people leaving Child Care Institutions (CCIs) in India that is potentially scalable to children in all CCIs.

The core aim of this programme is to contribute to the development of a platform that will support better understanding of the routes from intervention to outcomes for vulnerable children in Scotland through utilising administrative datasets and longitudinal research.

El presente informe de sistematización tiene como propósito hacer accesible la información producida en la Cumbre de la etapa final del análisis transversal del sistema de protección de la niñez, y ser una herramienta de comunicación y planificación al servicio de las instituciones públicas que formaron parte de este proceso.

The purpose of this systematization report is to make available the information produced at the Summit in the final stage of the cross-sectional review of the child protection system in Paraguay, and to be a communication and planning tool at the service of the Government agencies that were part of this process.

This briefing paper aims to highlight some of the key issues and some of the solutions that have been identified through regular meetings of the Scottish Care Leavers Covenant (SCLC) Alliance during the COVID-19 pandemic, drawing together learning from their own work and extensive networks with partners to offer a number of recommendations, and to prioritise steps to improve the lives of care leavers.

A survey was administered to develop a better understanding of the experiences of kinship care households in the UK as a result of the Coronavirus crisis, and what urgent steps could be taken by Government, local authorities and other agencies to help. This supplementary report provides an in-depth analysis of the kinship carers in Scotland and provides the legal context to influence national and local kinship care policies, practices and services of local authorities and other public agencies.

This report describes efforts through 2019 by the Center for the Study of Social Policy's Youth Thrive initiative to increase opportunities so that all youth have the chance to thrive.

This brief demonstrates the power of Developmental Understanding and Legal Collaboration for Everyone (DULCE) - a universal, evidence-based pediatric care innovation that addresses the social determinants of health and supports early relational health for families with infants from birth to six months - in addressing the critical concrete needs of families with newborns during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This brief summarizes the response and value of the Developmental Understanding and Legal Collaboration for Everyone (DULCE) approach during the first four months of the COVID-19 pandemic, the essential elements of the model that support its strength, and lessons learned.

This brief discusses how the infrastructure and partnerships EC-LINC communities have developed over years of building their early childhood systems have allowed them to address the needs confronting families with young children during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In this commentary, the authors explain how current circumstances reinforce the need for systemic change within statutory child welfare systems and the benefits that would accrue by implementing a continuum of services that combine universal supports with early intervention strategies.

This chapter of the Routledge Handbook of Critical Social Work, written by David Tobis, examines an inspiring story of dramatic change in New York’s child welfare system and how parents whose children were in foster care contributed to those changes. It demonstrates how grassroots activism can be suggestive for critical social work.

This evaluation study examined the perceptions and outcomes of the Parent Advocacy (PA) Initiative implemented in Initial Child Safety Conferences (ICSC) by New York City’s Administration for Children’s Services (ACS).

The Children’s Trust Fund Alliance joined with a group of parents from the BPNN to produce these issue briefs. They include the perspectives of parents with life experiences in using services to strengthen their families and focus on timely and important topics.

This implementation guide lays out what New York City child welfare agencies and Rise together found effective in strengthening parent-child visiting by training frontline staff and providing more information to parents. The guide includes planning, training and evaluation resources so that other agencies can bring the TIPS approach into frontline practice.

On 20-21 October 2020, the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) and the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work (GCSW) held two-day virtual conversations with organizers, activists, scholars, and community leaders to strategize innovative ways to create a society in which the forcible separation of children from their families is no longer an acceptable solution for families in need.

This case study examines the partnership that the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) and Family Voices undertook to create and implement a process for engaging families in the Pediatrics Supporting Parents (PSP) national initiative to promote the social and emotional development (SED) of young children.

Drawing on semi‐structured in‐depth interviews with 31 kinship caregivers, this study sought to explore how the culturally informed traditional kinship care practice in Ghana can be considered an intervention strategy for parental neglect.

This report outlines the peer research approach adopted by the Building Positive Futures project and summarises the findings of the pilot of the peer research methodology on leaving care in Africa.

This report is a short summary of the main findings from 'Building Positive Futures: A Cross-Country Pilot Study on Youth Transitions from Out-of-Home Care in Africa,' written for youth who participated and other interested young people.

Given the paucity of research on youth transitioning from alternative care (i.e. care-leaving or leaving care) in Africa, the study sought to develop and test a methodology for a cross-country, comparative study on leaving care in Africa.

In this study, semi-structured interviews were undertaken with parents with intellectual disability who accessed a specialist advocacy programme in New South Wales, Australia. Thematic analysis was used to identify the influence of advocacy on parents’ experiences.

This webinar outlined key elements of good practice in supervision and tools that can be used for achieving quality supervision for social service workers.

On 20-21 October 2020, the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) and the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work (GCSW) held two-day virtual conversations with organizers, activists, scholars, and community leaders to strategize innovative ways to create a society in which the forcible separation of children from their families is no longer an acceptable solution for families in need.

The International Parent Advocacy Network (IPAN) and Rise have developed this toolkit for advocacy by parents whose families have been harmed by child welfare systems worldwide

This Practice Brief accompanies the International Review of Parent Advocacy in Child Welfare: Strengthening Children's Care and Protection Through Parent Participation.

The purpose of this manual is to offer guidance on supervision to individuals working to provide, manage or coordinate social services. This manual defines what is meant by supervision in social services, outlines the key elements of good practice in supervision and summarizes the different forms of supervision.

The India Alternative Care Network (IACN) held a website launch event on 21 October 2020.

Este informe documenta violaciones graves y generalizadas a los derechos humanos de niñas, niños adolescentes y adultos con discapacidad en centros residenciales en México.

This report documents severe and pervasive human rights violations against children and adults with disabilities in residential facilities in Mexico.

This report presents data from a three-year pilot of a program that set out to prevent removals and expedite permanency by providing multidisciplinary services to at-risk families in Detroit, Michigan, USA.

This evaluation sought to explore the differences in case outcomes by program participation and racial groups.

This process evaluation of the King County Parents for Parents Program (P4P) examines the program’s efficacy and suggests areas for continued improvement.

This report presents the results of multi-country research launched in 2018 on refugee data in Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon to study the impact of cash-based interventions (CBI) on child protection outcomes.

The purpose of the research is to generate learning and recommendations to develop public policies to support the transition of adolescents and youth from the alternative care system to autonomous life in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Peru.

The purpose of this study is to examine parents’ reports on the response their children received to their needs during the COVID-19 crisis.

This report brings together the latest state and territory data on 5 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle (ATSICPP) indicators that measure and track the application of the Placement and Connection elements of the ATSICPP.

El presente informe sistematiza la información recabada en encuentros virtuales realizados con adolescentes y jóvenes y con equipos del Sistema de promoción y protección de derechos desde el inicio del aislamiento.

This document has been produced to provide guidance for advocacy organisations and advocates delivering independent advocacy to families at risk.

This article highlights emerging parent representation models that expedite the safe reunification of children already in foster care.

This article describes several parent partner/advocate programs operating around the United States, including programs that train parents to serve as parent mentors and programs that train parent leaders to sit at the decision-making table and influence child welfare policy.

This report is an outcome of the Hand In Hand Parent Meeting held in Melbourne, Australia on 19 September 2018. It shares the stories of parents with intellectual disabilities.

The following research study aimed to discover the relationships and contributions that parent partners have in the reunification process of parents and children within the child welfare system.

This issue of A Closer Look examines:

This evaluation study was conducted in an effort to learn more about the innovative parent organizing model implemented by the Child Welfare Organizing Project (CWOP) in East Harlem, New York City and identify the role and impact of CWOP community representatives on birthparents, families, and child safety conference outcomes.

As an outgrowth of Casey’s ongoing work with birth parents, Research Services and Technical Assistance Unit collaborated to review strategies and programs that increase birth parent engagement with child welfare services and that develop effective child welfare partnerships with birth parents as mentors, leaders and advisers. 

This Churchill Fellowship has explored family inclusion initiatives in the USA, Canada, Norway and the UK and has found that family inclusion is a pathway to better outcomes for children and young people including restoration and permanency.

This Casey Family Programs issue brief looks at the use of peer mentors (“parent partners”) who work with parents entering in and engaging with the child welfare system.

The Parent Partner Program Navigator guides child welfare administrators, staff, and parent leaders through key components of designing and implementing successful parent partner programs. Developed collaboratively with experienced parent partners and program coordinators, the Navigator offers guidance and capacity building resources based on research, practice experience, and implementation science.

This series—which begins with a focus on schools— exposes the harm of punishing parents instead of addressing the root causes of child welfare involvement in the U.S.

This blog post describes the benefits of parent advocacy for parents involved in the child protection system and includes a letter of thanks written by Taliah Drayak to her advocate.

In this article, the authors describe the short and long term ramifications of the pandemic for children and youth living in their residential programs in Germany under the auspices of municipal child and youth services.

This report from Save the Children calls upon governments, donors and other development partners to urgently support an expansion in social protection coverage of children and their caregivers (predominantly women), working progressively towards UCBs.

This report from Save the Children calls upon governments, donors and other development partners to urgently support an expansion in social protection coverage of children and their caregivers (predominantly women).

This video series from UNICEF shares the stories of young girls living through COVID-19 – coping with the fears of child marriage, the struggles of distance learning, and the burden of isolation.

In this piece for the Lancet, Kelley Swain reflects on the UNICEF video essay series, “Coping with COVID-19”, which invited 16 adolescent girls from nine countries to film their lives under lockdown—“unfiltered, unscripted, 100% real”.

In this podcast episode, Pramila Manandhar, media officer for CWIN in Nepal, shares her experiences in supporting children living and working on the street during lockdown.

The aim of this article is to determine the current landscape of child protection service delivery and research within the South African context.

The current assessment is the fourth in a series of independent assessments examining core systemic issues in Michigan’s child protection system.

This brief from the American Bar Association underscores how "providing parents with quality legal representation in child welfare cases isn’t just the right thing to do. It’s also the smart thing to do."

Data and Trend Analysis (DATA) Refugees and Migrants at the Western Balkans Route Regional Overview, covering period April – June 2020, describes key trends in migrations in the region, detailing information about the number of people on the move, demography (age, sex, country of origin, etc), behavioral patterns, and routes in use - with a focus on children, particularly unaccompanied children.

This document presents the challenges met during research on informal practices of unaccompanied and separated children traveling the Balkans route and learnings from the process of overcoming these challenges.

This article from the Canadian Journal of Family Law finds that an Australian version of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) of the United States is feasible and could significantly reduce Indigenous child removals and the break up of Indigenous families and communities in Australia.

In this study, educational outcomes for 68 children (aged 3–9 years) in foster-care due to concerns about abuse or neglect were compared to those for 166 children with current or past child welfare involvement living at home.

FICE Israel decided to initiate a short survey to document and share information about the way different countries handled their policies and practices in residential care facilities during that period. This report presents findings and some conclusions from this primary survey.

This article examines the current Common European Asylum System (CEAS), which includes several measures to protect unaccompanied minors.

The overall aim of the present study was to expand knowledge about depression among unaccompanied refugee minors in the years after they were granted protection in Norway.

This study focuses on the preparation for social reintegration of young Indian girls about to leave their residential care homes.

This Internal Mid Term Review (MTR) was conducted after completion of Year 1 of a pilot project to create a replicable model for child care institutions (CCIs) to effectively implement Family Based & Alternative Care in India.

The goal of this research was to challenge or validate the assumptions that underpin existing impact and change focused solutions; to combat the complete dearth of data and lack of meaningful information available in the sector about the longer term effects of institutional care on children in India; and to enable programmes both within and outside of Make A Difference to be designed on the back of benchmarked and trackable outcomes.

The present study report is based on data collected through the National Mapping Exercise in India covering all child care institutions (CCIs)/Homes except 34 CCIs/Homes in Uttar Pradesh. The details of scenario captured by these statistics are expected to provide necessary guidance to all stakeholders regarding improvements required in policy formulation and implementation in future.

The National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) of India has formulated this Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) in order to address gaps in current policy regarding the death of a child in a Child Care Institution (CCI) and the duty of Child Care Institutions to address issues such as escape, runaway or sexual abuse of children in the CCI.

This study, a first of its kind in the country as far as we could ascertain, focuses on the foster care services provided by various organisations and institutions in India.

This National Child Policy Implementation Plan (2020/2021-2024/2025) provides a roadmap and a common agenda of action to operationalise the National Child Policy (2020).

This National Child Policy has been developed to coordinate the efforts of the different sectors that have a direct and indirect mandate on children and deliver a comprehensive package of services encompassing all the four cardinal rights of the child in a multi-sectoral approach. 

In this session of the Advocacy Sector Conversations Forum, Barbara Carter and Kate Fitt discussed issues around child protection and provided some practical tips on how to support parents with disability in their dealings with child protection agencies.

This article describes David Tobis's keynote address at the Family Inclusion Network South East Queensland’s Global Day of Parents Forum and the story of the parents and allies who changed the child protection system in New York City.