This paper is concerned with outcomes for young parents in and leaving care and draws on findings from a post-doctoral fellowship study conducted in Wales.

En esta publicación, a partir de la experiencia de trabajo y la reflexión sobre su propia práctica, La Barca ordena, sistematiza y pone a disposición de todos los actores del sistema de protección a la infancia de Uruguay los principales aprendizajes de la tarea realizada en los últimos años.

La presente investigación trata de los jóvenes sin tiempo y cómo trabajar, con ellos y ellas, en un tránsito inclusivo a la vida adulta, especialmente jóvenes que han pasado una parte importante de sus vidas en recursos residenciales del sistema de protección y que cuando son mayores de edad deben dejarlos para salir a la vida adulta, en un tránsito cargado de complejidades.

El presente curso surge del Acuerdo de Cooperación suscripto en 2014 entre UNICEF Argentina y la Asociación civil por los derechos de niños niñas adolescentes y jóvenes Doncel que tiene por objetivo principal contribuir a desarrollar un modelo de acompañamiento integral para adolescentes residentes en los hogares asistenciales de las provincias argentinas de Misiones, Jujuy, Chaco, Santa Fe y Tucumán en transición del sistema de protección hacia la autonomía y la vida adulta.

Las evidencias presentadas en este documento fueron elaboradas a partir de una investigación que se propuso realizar una primera aproximación a la situación de los jóvenes sin cuidados parentales frente al egreso en Argentina.

En este artículo se revisan diversas investigaciones de carácter nacional de España e internacional sobre los adolescentes que egresan del sistema de protección.

The purpose of this article is to examine the current well-being of the population of Bulgaria and to put emphasis on negative trends, including the abandonment of children due to poverty or other causes.

This study investigated the role of childhood parental deprivation in the association between quality of life (QOL) and the Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) antibody titer, a marker of cellular immune functioning, using data from 734 adults living in seven communities in rural Fujian, China.

This article reports on a study of the relationships between child protection system contact and small area-level deprivation in New Zealand. The study found that, compared to children living in the least deprived quintile of small areas, children in the most deprived quintile had, on average, 13 times the rate of substantiation, 18 times the rate of a family group conference, and 6 times their chance of placement in foster care. Findings suggest that action is needed to address the causes of deprivation, provide services that respond to families living in poverty, and undertake further research to examine the interactions between demand and supply of services across deprivation levels.

This thematic paper from ECPAT's Global Study on Sexual Exploitation of Children in Travel and Tourism highlights the risks of sexual exploitation of children associated with volunteering and voluntourism, including orphanage voluntourism.

This manual has been developed for professionals working with reception families and the unaccompanied children living with them.

Guided by the life course principle of expected ‘diversity in life course trajectories’ this paper identifies the pathways taken through education among 18 care-experienced adults (aged 24–36) in Ireland and some of the experiences and events that influenced these pathways.

In France more than 140 000 children live in foster homes under the responsibility of the French Child Protection Agency. These children have lived in environments that cannot be good for their development and have been separated from their families which have to have consequences on their mental development. A literature review in France and abroad was made to identify the profiles of these children, their risk factors, and the mental disorders they can present.

This article examines characteristics and decision making related to investigating workers’ determinations that young children of adolescent and young adult mothers are at risk of future maltreatment.

The aims of this study were (1) to estimate child welfare characteristics in a sample of homeless young people in the US who engaged in commercial sex (CS); and (2) to compare young people who were sex trafficked (ST) to those who engaged in some other form of CS.

This volume explores universal social programs designed to serve entire communities as they move toward achieving population impact in reducing child maltreatment, strengthening parental capacity, and improving infant health and development.

In this brief, Ron Haskins, Kenneth A. Dodge, and Deborah Daro call for a system of psychosocial care for young families in the US, highlighting the the Family Connects program which aims to reach every family with a newborn child in a given community through a system that combines home visiting by trained nurses; community alignment through a directory of services to connect families to the resources they need; and data and monitoring through an electronic data system that acts as a family-specific psychosocial and educational record.

The U.S. State Department Trafficking in Persons Report sheds light on the practices of modern slavery around the world and highlights specific steps governments can take to protect victims of human trafficking, prevent trafficking crimes, and prosecute traffickers in the United States and around the world. The report includes several references to the links between orphanages and trafficking in relation to Nepal, Nigeria, Cambodia, Haiti, Sri Lanka, Moldova, and other countries.

In order to address the need for evidence-based research about the care leaver experience, a study was facilitated by the Uganda Care Leavers project - sponsored by Alternative Care Initiatives (ACI), a Ugandan NGO, and BULA, a U.S. 501(c)(3) non-profit organization - to conduct peer-led participatory workshops throughout the country. These care leavers, identified by local community leaders and networks, were invited to participate in workshops where they completed surveys about their experiences, the results of which are presented in this report. Survey results are the basis of this study’s recommendations and suggestions for future care reform.

In this study, a mobile phone-based surveillance system was established in a drought-affected district in northern Ethiopia to assess the feasibility of using community focal points to monitor cases of unaccompanied and separated children.

This paper urges the government and nation of New Zealand to give effect to long-standing Kaupapa Māori models for developing the new required evaluation measures aimed at reducing the disparities for Māori children and young persons who come to the attention of Oranga Tamariki Ministry for Children.

This study was aimed at assessing whether the Journey Up Mentorship Program in Salt Lake City improved outcomes for those aging out of foster care in the US state of Utah.

This study investigated foster parent (N = 792) perspectives about the legal representation of foster youth involved in dependency court proceedings in the US.

The Care Pathways and Outcomes Study is a longitudinal study following 374 children who were in care and under five years old on 31/3/2000 in Northern Ireland. The study followed where the young people ended up living, whether they returned to their birth parents, went into kinship or non-relative foster care, or were adopted.

The aim of the current study is to identify different subgroups of adolescents placed in Residential Care (RC) on the basis of different dynamic factors and analyze their relation with antisocial behavior and family violence.

This Data Book from the Annie E. Casey Foundation explores how the child population, and childhood experience, of the US has changed since 1990. It also presents national and state data on 16 indicators of child well-being across four domains — health, education, family and community and economic well-being.

This working paper from the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child explains how adult-child relationships shape child development, and identifies ways to strengthen policies that affect those relationships in the early childhood years.

This study explored the social images of families of children and youths in residential care in a sample of 176 participants with and without professional contact with this population.

This small pilot project was conducted to start to understand and compare the situation of grandmothers caring for children in a diverse range of countries when their parents are in prison.

This Manual provides the materials needed for Ghana's Department of Social Welfare and Foster Care Agency (where applicable) to conduct the following foster care related activities: Foster parent recruitment drives; Foster parent orientation sessions; and Foster parent training.

This document on 0 – 3 years standards was developed to complement the other existing Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) documents which provide guidelines for caregivers in Ghana, including parents, towards achieving the developmental milestones or competencies within the age bracket 0-3.

This report presents the key findings and recommendations from a comprehensive geographical mapping and analysis of Residential Homes for Children (RHCs) in Ghana.

This Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) is intended as a guide for social workers in handling cases of children in need of care and protection.

The purpose of this Foster Care Operational Manual is to provide guidance to Department of Social Welfare (DSW) officers and Foster Care Agencies on the delivery of foster care services in line with the Children’s Amendment Act, 2016 and Foster Care Regulations 2018.

These Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for the inspection and monitoring of Residential Homes for Children (RHCs) in Ghana are intended to provide guidance to National, Regional and District DSW Officers on how to plan, conduct and report on RHC inspection and monitoring visits and how to enforce directives to either address gaps in compliance with the Standards and/or to close the RHC.

The revised Standards outlined in this document are aimed at strengthening the first National Standards for Residential Homes for Children (RHC) in Ghana, developed in 2010.

A study carried out in Italy based on a sample group of young immigrants (N = 168) and intercountry adoptees (N = 160) tests a model in which social (perceived discrimination) and family factors (parental autonomy support) predict psychological well-being.

El presente informe refleja distintos aspectos del fenómeno de discriminación que sufren las niñas, niños y adolescentes sin cuidado parental que residen en instituciones de América Latina y el Caribe.

La presente ley tiene por objeto la creación del Programa de Acompañamiento para el Egreso de Adolescentes y Jóvenes sin Cuidados Parentales a fin de garantizar su plena inclusión social y su máximo desarrollo personal y social.

El objetivo del libro es posicionar regionalmente la situación de los egresados del sistema de protección, demostrando que en los países de latinoamérica hay miles de adolescentes y jóvenes que viven en dispositivos alternativos de cuidado y deben enfrentarse a un egreso de forma abrupta y muchas veces, no planificada.

El presente artículo busca describir brevemente las trayectorias de los adolescentes y jóvenes en su transición del sistema de cuidados alternativos a la vida adulta en América Latina.

El trabajo se centra en el análisis de las trayectorias de un grupo de 199 adolescentes y jóvenes que viven o han vivido institucionalizados por una medida excepcional de cuidado, en siete provincias argentinas.

Esta página de Doncel presenta una panorama general de la "Ley de Egreso" que establece nuevos derechos para jóvenes sin cuidados parentales en Argentina.

This video presents an exchange of lessons and experiences between youth and adult representatives of Nebraska Children and Families Foundation in the United States and Doncel Asociación Civil in Argentina, highlighting authentic youth engagement in addressing the needs of former foster youth.

The purpose of this assessment is to reflect on the successes and challenges of the Global Alliance for Children (GAC) experience, a large-scale initiative to support and improve outcomes for children throughout their life cycle, especially children most at risk of harm.

This paper draws on an evaluation of the effectiveness of the Nurturing Attachments groupwork programme provided by AdoptionPlus for adoptive families in England. The Nurturing Attachments programme, informed by Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (Hughes, Golding & Hudson, 2015), was developed to help foster and adoptive parents strengthen their relationships with the child and support children who had experienced developmental traumas.

This webinar was presented by the Christian Alliance for Orphans (CAFO) to offer guidance on transitioning donors away from funding orphanages and toward supporting family strengthening and family-based care.

This phenomenological qualitative study seeks to examine the impact of child rights cultural contestation in supporting OVC in Zimbabwe. The study focuses on the lived experiences, perceptions, feelings and views of OVC and care-givers in the Gutu District of Zimbabwe.

Given that research identifies parental experiences of shame and humiliation in the child protection process, this article reports on a qualitative study that investigated how and why parents experienced such emotions within the English system.

This study analyzed how the implementation of the strategy of extending learning time in a group of adolescents living in residential care contributed to promoting their scientific vocations and increasing their academic expectations and their knowledge of these disciplines.

This paper sets out to explore why formal kinship care has emerged in such a marked way in recent decades by investigating the emergence and development of formal kinship care in two neighboring jurisdictions in Europe where it now accounts for a substantial proportion of all care placements in Scotland and Ireland.

As part of a 3‐year US federal project of family group conferences (FGCs) in one jurisdiction, this study collected fidelity data from professional and family member participants of FGCs, including children and young people. Descriptive data from a small sample of child and young people participating in FGC suggest differences in their perspectives regarding family empowerment, transparency, and inclusion in decision making, when compared with the perspectives of other family members and professionals for whom data are available.

There is little Australian research on the factors that influence decisions to adopt children from out‐of‐home care. This paper presents a mixed methods study that was conducted to address this gap.

The present article first provides an overview of the historical and socio-political context of family separation policies in the US, second a review of the literature on the impact of family separation on children and parents in diverse contexts, and third a description of direct clinical experiences with these children and parents receiving services at the Terra Firma program in the Bronx community in New York.

Using theoretically-informed mediating path models and data from the second National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW II), this study tests the role of harsh physical punishment as a mediator between family income and child protective services (CPS) involvement in the US.

This research summary provides an overview of what young people leaving residential care in Australia need and how those working in residential care can best help young people prepare for independence.

The authors of this study conducted a narrative review to summarise the literature examining the barriers and facilitators of physical activity (PA) engagement among young people living in care.

This paper reviews the literature on human relational factors and their impact on complex care systems for a highly vulnerable population of children and young people in out‐of‐home care (OOHC).

The current study used a quasi-experimental design and propensity score matching to examine the outcomes for children of families served by the Iowa Department of Human Services Parent Partner program, a peer support program to mentor parents who are currently involved in the US child welfare system.

This qualitative case study explores the challenges facing children reunified with their families from an orphanage in Ghana.

Disability Rights International (DRI) llevó a cabo dos investigaciones en Baja California, México –la primera en noviembre de 2018 y la segunda en febrero de 2019, visitando a cuatro instituciones privadas en las que se encuentran niñas, niños, adolescentes y personas –incluidas personas migrantes– con discapacidad. Este informe presenta los resultos de esta investigación.

Disability Rights International (DRI) carried out two investigation trips to Baja California, Mexico, in November 2018 and February 2019, visiting four residential, private institutions for children and adults – including migrants - with disabilities. This report presents the findings from these investigations.

In this article the authors attempt to disentangle different aspects of potentially harmful care for looked after children, as well as to discuss potential pathways to more systematically approach and report adverse events for this group.

This report is the result 4 of a two-year EU funded project “An Early Years Support Centre (EYSC) service in Dushanbe: Reducing poverty, empowering vulnerable families, strengthening partnerships and advocating for rights”. It outlines the model of support that was developed through the EYSC project in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan. 

This how-to video breaks down serve and return into 5 simple steps (from Filming Interactions to Nurture Development) and features adults and young children doing each step together.

Esta guía breve del Harvard Center on the Developing Child presenta 5 pasos para cuidadores practicar “saque y volea” con su niño/a.

This brief guide from the Harvard Center on the Developing Child outlines 5 steps for primary caregivers to practice serve and return with their child.

The paper describes the findings of a geographical mapping and analysis of residential care facilities in four regions of Ghana.

This study aimed at investigating specifically whether institutionalization impacts negatively children’s psychological adjustment defined in terms of externalizing behavior, internalizing behavior and self-esteem and whether having living parents has additional influence. Ninety-five institutionalized and 82 not institutionalized children in Rwanda, aged 9 to 16, participated in the study.

This paper from the Scottish Journal of Residential Child Care outlines the Child Rescue Centre's process of transitioning from residential care to family-based care in Sierra Leone.

This final report describes the Economic Strengthening to Keep and Reintegrate Children into Families (ESFAM) project and presents findings from an evaluation of the program, including its implementation and outcomes as well as its impacts. 

This video presents the work of the FARE family strengthening program in Uganda to prevent separation of families and reintegrate children who are separated from their families, including the story of one young person and his family who were impacted by the program.

This snapshot summarises the findings from the responses of 474 16-25 year old care leavers who completed the Your Life Beyond Care (YLBC) survey in 6 local authorities in England - an overall response rate of 30%. This snapshot gives an insight into how care leavers really feel about their lives.

This report from the German Youth Institute (Deutsches Jugendinstitut e.V., DJI) assesses the adoption system in the Netherlands.

This mixed method study explores the postsecondary experiences of foster alumni in a large southwest urban area of the US.

This article argues that the US state of Alaska should enact a state statute to provide clear guidance to state child welfare practitioners and state courts that Alaska’s state government recognizes an Indian custodianship created through Tribal law or custom as a pathway for Indian children to exit the overburdened state foster care system.

This chapter from the boom Child Justice Administration in Africa examines the development of the child justice system in South Africa. The empirical findings in this book revealed the models put in place for alternative care of children in need of care and protection, which the author believes were hindered by inadequate budgetary allocations and could have been recorded in the administration of child justice in South Africa.

This study extends the research on the experiences and outcomes of siblings in care by comprehensively mapping sibling networks both within and outside the care system and measuring sibling estrangement (living apart and lack of contact) over time among children in Scotland.

This open access article explores three related phenomena: first, the abandonment and institutionalization of children with disabilities in China that increased disproportionately in the 2000s; second, the important relationships between such abandonments, culture, economics, and politics in contemporary China; and third, the relationship between such abandonments, the increasing rates at which Chinese orphans with disabilities are being adopted to Western countries through Inter-country Adoption (ICA), and the global politics of ICA and disability.

The aim of this study is to compare the subjective well-being (SWB) of children hosted in institutions and in foster families with the well-being of children living with their families. Results indicate that children in residential care have a lower SWB in all variables compared to foster care and general populations groups.

In this article, the authors present findings from a follow‐up assessment from the Bucharest Early Intervention Project (BEIP) - the first longitudinal study to investigate the neurodevelopment of institutionalized infants randomized to a foster care (FCG) intervention versus care as usual (CAUG)- of brain electrical activity as indexed by resting EEG at age 16 years.

This article uses a content analysis methodology to critically examine and compare the findings of six recent Australian child protection inquiries (five at state and territory level and one Commonwealth) in relation to their discrete sections on leaving care.

This study evaluated the effectiveness of the US Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families funded Partnerships to Demonstrate the Effectiveness of Supportive Housing for Families in the Child Welfare System, a five-year, $25 million demonstration that provided supportive housing to families in the child welfare system, in five sites. This report summarizes the results of the cost study, which estimates the costs of the housing and services offered in the demonstration and any savings, or additional costs, resulting from the demonstration’s effects on families’ use of homeless programs and child welfare services.

The VACS are designed to measure the prevalence, past 12-month incidence and circumstances surrounding sexual, physical and emotional violence in childhood, adolescence (before age 18) and young adulthood (before age 24).

The Lesotho VACS Fact Sheet provides country-specific data on sexual and physical violence against children in Lesotho.

This Training Manual seeks to raise awareness of the content of the Prepare for Leaving Care: Practice Guidance, build knowledge and skills to support young people through the process of leaving care and help trainees to understand and develop some of the tools which are helpful in the leaving care process.

There have long been doubts within social work about the viability of reconciling participatory practice with the statutory power that comes hand-in-hand with child protection work. This book explores this issue by proposing an original theory of children’s participation within statutory child protection interventions. It prioritises children’s voices through presentation of a wide collection of children’s experiences of the UK child protection system including three unique in-depth accounts.

This study prospectively examined risk factors of first time delinquency for maltreated youth between ages 9 and 14.

To support innovation in addressing adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), the authors have undertaken a review of evidence on common approaches to prevent ACEs and/or mitigate their negative impacts in Wales.

In a sample of 136 Romanian children from the Bucharest Early Intervention Project (BEIP), who were exposed to early psychosocial deprivation in the form of institutional care, the authors of this study examined caregiver-reported and observer-rated signs of disinhibited social engagement disorder (DSED).

This paper describes two successful models in which African American families both self-recruited, and were recruited by agencies seeking to place African American children.

This open access paper reports on experiences and reflections of a group of children and young people and academic researchers who developed a Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) group that was set up in the context of an ongoing health service intervention trial with Looked after children and care leavers (denoted as LAC).

This paper asks how state parental responsibility towards unaccompanied minors is given meaning, and with what consequences, for both frontline workers and unaccompanied minors alike?

This paper discusses critical tasks facing adoptive parents of transracially adopted persons (TRAs), what we know about parents’ role and children’s outcomes.

When children are adopted from the care system staying in touch with members of their birth families must be considered.This research paper draws on the English experience.

This study examined the possible differences in educational level by comparing Finnish national register data for 814 former reform school (RS) residents in four cohorts (placed in out-of-home care in 1991, 1996, 2001 and 2006) to 4021 of their peers in the general population matched by gender, age, and place of birth.

This report provides findings from the Urban Institute's impact analysis of a program that provided supportive housing to families in the child welfare system in the US.

This podcast episode describes what self-harm is and how social workers can support young people and carers who are self-harming.

In commemoration of its founding 100 years ago, Save the Children is releasing its third annual Global Childhood Report to celebrate progress for children.