The purpose of this document is to explore why and how Child Protective Services (CPS) evolved from a highly specialized system designed to investigate and respond to allegations of serious child abuse and neglect to a system expected to provide social services and material supports to impoverished families unable to meet their children’s basic needs.
This policy brief presents the key findings of the 2024 Child Gauge which focuses on early childhood development and the full book can be accessed at www.ci.uct.ac.za.
This 17th issue of the South African Child Gauge focuses attention on early childhood development – from conception until the start of formal school. It collates the latest evidence to reflect on progress, identify challenges and point the way forward.
وثمة عوامل تفاقِم الأخطار التي يواجهها الأطفال، من بينها الهجرة والتهجير غير الآمنين، والنزاعات المسلحة، وتغير المناخ، والجوائح، والاستغلال الذي تتيحه التقنياتُ منع العنف ضد الأطفال والاستجابة إليه هو أحد الحديثة، وتصاعد التفاوت.
A urgência em prevenir e responder a todas as formas de violência contra as crianças nunca foi tão grande. Todos os anos, mais de mil milhões de crianças são vítimas de violência, com um impacto económico estimado em 7 bilhões de dólares.1
La necesidad urgente de prevenir y responder a todas las formas de violencia contra la infancia nunca ha sido mayor.
Il n’a jamais été aussi urgent de prévenir et de combattre toutes les formes de violence contre les enfants.
The Child Protection System Strengthening Framework for Action was launched at the first Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence Against Children on 8 November 2024. This framework aims to strengthen child protection systems globally by promoting a cohesive approach to preventing and responding to violence against children in all contexts.
This episode of the Helping Children Worldwide podcast provides a deep dive into the complexities and triumphs of reintegrating children into family environments in Sierra Leone and beyond.
Case studies from the Global South provide insights on how to effectively support children who have experienced violence.
This study was conducted by Family Care First (FCF), to enhance the understanding of common practices of kinship and foster care in Cambodia and identify gaps and good practices that are scalable to promote quality options for family based alternative care programs. FCF is a network of global organizations working together to support children to live in safe, nurturing family-based care.
The objective of this study is to document lessons learned from Family Care First (FCF) | Responsive and Effective Child Welfare System Transformation (REACT) members in Cambodia, as well as the literature from others working on transition globally, to create evidence-based recommendations to inform future transitions and closure of residential care institutions in Cambodia at scale.
Researching the factors contributing to the separation of children from their families is particularly challenging due to the overrepresentation of higher-income countries in existing literature and the influence of both the objective capacity and subjective perspectives of those recording the reasons for children’s admission to alternative care. This makes it difficult to consistently understand and document the phenomenon.
To address this challenge, the report integrates key findings from a systematic literature review of global research, and it introduces new data from country studies across various income levels, filling gaps in current research to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the factors contributing to family separation and ways to prevent it.
In this report, SOS Children's Villages and partners from 10 academic institutions from around the world, have researched the phenomenon of child-family separation and what can be done to prevent it. This research tries to fill a global gap of information regarding middle and low-income countries, the contexts of which are not well understood.
This year's report provides a snapshot of the key trends and promising initiatives shaping the social service workforce. It zeroes in on a particularly important issue: the critical role that the workforce plays in ensuring children can always benefit from safe and stable family care—whether that be in their own family or through family-based alternative care, when needed.
Bune Practici de Asistență Parentală Profesionistă pentru Copiii cu Nevoi Complexe: Rezultatele analizei preliminare a literaturii de specialitate pentru pregătirea proiectului pilot privind asistența parentală profesionistă specializată în Republica Moldova rezumă cele mai bune practici internaționale în domeniul asistenței parentale profesioniste specializate, și oferă perspective și recomandări esențiale pentru dezvoltarea și extinderea asistenței parentale profesioniste specializate în Republica Moldova.
This report summarizes international best practices of specialized foster care and provides critical insights and recommendations for developing and scaling specialized foster care in Moldova.
The 2023 assessment of Diocesan Family Life Departments (FLDs) in Kenya, conducted by the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) in collaboration with Changing the Way We Care℠ (CTWWC), highlights the Church’s critical role in advancing care reform and supporting families.
In 2023, the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) conducted a Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices (KAP) survey, in partnership with Changing the Way We Care℠ (CTWWC), to assess the readiness of Catholic church leadership and workers in Charitable Children’s Institutions (CCIs) for ca
This study aimed to gather data on Catholic Church Children’s Charitable Institutions (CCI) operations in Kenya, the children they serve, and the challenges they face, to inform future care reform strategies.
Guatemala, con una población en aumento que proyecta alcanzar los 17.8 millones de habitantes para 2024, enfrenta serios desafíos sociales y económicos, especialmente en áreas vulnerables como el municipio de Zacapa.
The Changing the Way We Care℠ (CTWWC) Life of the Award Report highlights the initiative’s global efforts to promote safe, nurturing family care for children. Since 2018, CTWWC has been driving care reform in countries like Guatemala, Kenya, and Moldova, while supporting smaller projects in Haiti and India.
Muluka-Anne Miti-Drummond, Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism, presented her report "Children with albinism and the right to family life" during the 79th session of the UN General Assembly in New York on 21 October, 2024.
This thematic brief helps government policy and decision-makers understand the essential role of the social service workforce and how to strengthen that workforce in line with their national commitments to care reform and regional and global conventions. It includes high level guidance, recommendations and practical examples from diverse contexts for consideration when developing, supporting and strengthening the social service workforce.
"We cannot do this work alone. The church in the United States of America has led the charge globally to provide solutions to children that no one was willing to care for," says Philip Aspegren, the co-executive director of Casa Viva.
The India Alternative Care Network hosted this webinar on kinship care in Africa on October 1, 2024.
This IOM report reveals that there are more than 700,000 people currently displaced within Haiti, 52% of whom are children. Haiti is experiencing an unprecedented crisis that has affected the entire population, including the many orphanages operating there.
“When we approach the family holistically and we use case management tools in matching challenges and problems of the family with the available tools then this will benefit the child,” Roman Zhukovskyi, World Bank Social Protection Specialist, shares learnings regarding the importance of social protection to enable care reform and the role of case management in ensuring effective social protection.
In this workshop panelists explored UNICEF's Data and Analytics Section's protocols and tools for gathering data on children in residential care.
This briefing book, prepared by the Inter-Parliamentary Taskforce on Human Trafficking, serves as a practical guide for legislators on how to--through a combination of global partnerships and domestic action--work together to educate, advocate and legislate to end orphanage trafficking.
Каждый ребенок имеет право расти в способствующей развитию семейной среде.
This UNICEF policy brief finds that an estimated 203 children for every 100,000 children live in residential care across Central Asia – almost double the global average of 105 per 100,000. In this brief, UNICEF proposes seven policy recommendations to facilitate the closure of large-scale institutions and transition to family-based alternatives to institutional care in Central Asia.
This UNICEF publication presents the first-ever global and regional estimates of sexual violence against children. It narrates through numbers the tragic reality of sexual violence, amplifying victims’ voices.
This webinar looked at case management for preventing family separation in Kenya, exploring the role that case management can play in prevention and the tools and strategies for effective case management with vulnerable families.
This paper addresses the consequences of child-parent separation at the U.S. southern border and offers suggestions for supporting these families including child-parent psychotherapy.
This study examined the categories that states use to classify and govern migrants. Unaccompanied minors and adult asylum seekers are treated very differently regarding their asylum cases and residence permits. The study focused on Germany, where the courts and youth welfare offices commission age assessments to decide whether young migrants will be considered minors or adults. These assessments are carried out by forensic medical examiners and social workers, respectively, who work with very different understandings of what constitutes age.
The objective of this study was to identify additional mental and neurodevelopmental health needs of Aboriginal children born in Western Australia, who are placed in out-of-home care (OOHC), relative to Aboriginal children born in Western Australia who were not placed.
This study explores Ukrainian responses to internally displaced people during the first and second waves of war-induced displacement and internal migration in Ukraine, which took place after the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and after the full-scale invasion of 2022. It also addresses the unique challenges faced by Ukrainian social work professionals in supporting displaced people, service people and their families, disabled veterans, and orphaned children as the war continues and also for resettlement in a post-war context.
This paper explores the involvement of children in discharge of care applications and the tensions children’s guardians and other stakeholders may face when aiming to both uphold children’s rights to participate and their right to protection from harm.
This article explores the opportunities social workers have to involve care-experienced individuals in participatory training and academic opportunities by sharing the stories of two young women with care experience who were attending the University of Rome.
This commentary discusses the limitations of the current Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) research and the need to also consider social and methodological aspects of adversity. The importance of considering protective factors is also discussed.
This study explores the role that transitional centers in Armenia play in the transitioning process of leaving institutional care and entering independent adulthood.
This U.S.-based study aimed to get recommendations from stakeholders with lived and/or professional experience in foster care to understand how to increase participation in research and how to capture a broader representation of those impacted.
This article addresses the complex dynamics surrounding unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in the UK.
This study aimed to investigate the direct impact of perceived social support, basic need services, and Psychological Capital on the mental health of children in childcare settings in Ethiopia.
This article explores the journey of foster care in India from 2010 to 2024 as an analysis and commentary on the substantive changes between the foster care 2016 model guidelines and the newly released foster care 2024 guidelines.
This study aims to examine how parental substance use affects outcomes of Australian children in out-of-home care, adjusting for key demographic, social and system factors.
This South Africa-based paper aims to provide practice guidelines for leaving care that would be useful in real-world settings.
The aim of this review is to articulate the key mechanisms through which shared decision-making meetings can work to help keep children safely out of care and at home. Data from the literature was supplemented with consultation to ensure relevance to the UK setting.
This article provides a unique comparison of four non-professional stakeholder groups involved with dependency courts overseeing child protective services cases in the state of Maryland in the United States.
This qualitative study of cluster foster parents in Mpumalanga, South Africa, revealed that they are faced with extreme challenges such as lack of support, knowledge, and limitation of resources in fostering children with special needs.
This paper is based on a qualitative study that collected data from 24 caregivers working at four childcare institutions in Harare, Zimbabwe. Findings from the study revealed that challenges experienced by caregivers include high caseloads and lack of resources, regulations which do not promote proper child development, inadequate training for caregivers, and nonexistence of a representative body for caregivers and the existence of multiple reporting systems for children.
This scoping review identified and synthesized evidence from studies across the globe examining adult justice system contact among individuals who have experienced child protection system involvement (including placement in out-of-home care [OOHC]).
This research aimed to explore the lived experiences of young care leavers in Iran and their perceptions and views of their transitioning to the world outside of home care.
This study used a qualitative methodology to explore the lived experiences of five Trinidad and Tobago mothers stranded abroad and shows the ways in which the COVID-19 border closures altered their caregiving practices with children left behind.
This study aimed to analyze the narratives of social educators regarding their practices within a foster care institution for children and adolescents in South Brazil.
This study seeks to evaluate the real-world experiences, challenges, and best practices in implementing parent support programs in Botswana.
This interdisciplinary work brings together voices from the legal realm, the academic world, and the on-the-ground experiences of activists and practitioners. At the heart of these narratives lies a crucial debate: the tension between harm-reduction strategies and abolition.
This paper draws on the experiences of children and young people (CYP) who have self-placed in out-of-home care (OOHC) in Queensland (Australia) and the impact of that choice on their participation in decision-making.
This study examined case studies highlighting specific issues or exemplary practices in child protection in Kazakhstan, providing a thorough, multidimensional analysis of child rights and protection in the country.
This Human Rights Watch report documents how children with disabilities in Gaza face dangerous situations and additional difficulties as they struggle to comply with frequent evacuation orders and a lack of effective advance warning of attacks.
This is the Executive Summary of the World Social Protection Report 2024-26: Universal Social Protection for Climate Action and a Just Transition which provides a global overview of progress made around the world since 2015 in extending social protection and building rights-based social protection systems. It calls on policymakers, social partners and other stakeholders to accelerate their efforts to simultaneously close protection gaps and realize climate ambitions.
With a sharp focus on the climate crisis, this report provides a global overview of progress made around the world since 2015 in extending social protection and building rights-based social protection systems. In doing so, it makes an essential contribution to the monitoring framework of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. And it calls on policymakers, social partners and other stakeholders to accelerate their efforts to simultaneously close protection gaps and realize climate ambitions.
The Transitioning Residential Care Working Group, part of the Transforming Children’s Care Collaborative, launched the Divesting of Residential Care Guidelines and the Transition Monitoring Tool for practitioners, advocates, organizations, and donors supporting and promoting residential
This learning brief documents the process of care reform policy development and financing improvements in Nyamira County, Kenya, following the enactment of the Child Policy and the Persons with Disabilities Act, 2023.
This learning brief explores the formalization and replication of Kafaalah, an Islamic practice of caring for orphans and vulnerable children, as an alternative family-based care option in Kenya.
In Guatemala, the survey in 2023 targeted all families who had participated in a case management process with CTWWC due to a reintegrating child or a child identified as at risk of separation, as well as a sample of households where the caregiver had attended a parenting school.
This is a summary of a household survey conducted in Moldova by CTWWC to provide insights for policymakers and practitioners on the impacts of interventions to support reintegrating families and those at risk of separation. For Moldova, CTWWC adapted its survey tool to fit the local context by adjusting terminology and phrasing of some questions and responses, and removing questions that were not relevant.
Case studies from Peru, Cambodia and DRC provide lessons on how income support can contribute to keeping children safe.
This webinar showcased global approaches to strengthening norms and values that support positive, gender-equitable relationships and non-violent problem solving as one of the strategies to prevent violence against children as outlined in INPIRE. It focused on the lessons learned, challenges, adaptations and key ingredients of successful interventions.
This webinar unpacks lessons learnt from successful parenting and caregiver interventions in lower-middle-income countries.
A key feature of CTWWC’s theory of change is building evidence on children's care and reform, particularly regarding reintegration from residential care, transitions to family-based care, and preventing separation.
This webinar showcases global approaches to creating safe environments and communities. Speakers focused on the lessons learned, challenges, adaptations and key ingredients of successful interventions.
Hace aproximadamente dos décadas, el mundo empezó a entender que los niños, niñas y adolescentes necesitan algo más que un techo y una cama.
A new report by the International Data Alliance for Children on the Move (IDAC), Climate Mobility and Childhood: Examining the risks, closing the data and evidence gaps for children on the move, considers how the well-being of children may be affected when climate change and human mobility intersect in their lives – or, what can be described as experiences of climate mobility. This Executive Summary provides the key messages and main findings of the report's four sections.
This report by the International Data Alliance for Children on the Move (IDAC) sheds light on how climate mobility is impacting children’s well-being and offers recommendations for ensuring that children affected by climate-related migration are not overlooked.
This study details the journey of the Orphan and Destitute Youth in Aftercare Programme in Maharashtra, India. The study was conducted with the orphan youth who left the Seven Aftercare programmes both from Government and NGO-run Aftercare programme. It has discussed their challenges, experiences and support given during and post aftercare while orphan youth started their independent life.
The COVID-19 pandemic severely disrupted the daily lives of people globally. In this narrative essay, the authors use the story-telling method to reflect on the challenges encountered and initiatives undertaken by a support group network for Youth Care Leavers (YCLs) community during the COVID-19 pandemic in Maharashtra, India.
This article holds the State as responsible for the wellbeing of those it has taken the responsibility of protecting. These include people who have suffered violence, indignity, hunger and life-threatening circumstances. The five-year planning of state and district plans have utilised more resources than produced outcomes and output. In this article we put together a learning from strategies that can facilitate duty holders to emerge as more responsible actors during the pandemic that continues.
This case study documents the complex process undertaken by a donor partner in Ireland* to push for the transition of their partner residential care service provider in Ghana. It follows their journey through the early stages of transition and eventually leads to their decision to divest of their funding and partnership.
The purpose of the tool is to assist technical support practitioners to closely track and monitor the progress of residential care services transitions they are involved in. It can be used as a workplan to guide the implementation of a transition strategy, allowing practitioners to identify relevant transition activities, set progress-related goals, and monitor progress against those goals.
In this interview, BCN’s Senior Technical Advisor, Rebecca Nhep, speaks with Laura Horvath, from Helping Children Worldwide, about the impact of child sponsorship programs on the transition of residential care services and post transition family strengthening programs.
These guidelines have been written to guide donors and partners through the process of gathering information, making the decision to divest, securing buy-in internally for divestment, engaging with partners and stakeholders, developing a divestment plan, communicating that plan, and addressing any child safety concerns.
في ا اذهلترّرّ قرد الببنّا ةلتمتا رلنامة متمتا الأباا ذوا يلمهق أحا قورلإتنا وجهات نظّ ونتائج مشــــــــّوت أح مشــــــــتّا وقوفــــــــةات أشــــــــا نلتب ةا نم للتحدحاا تلنموة والتمارب الحةاقةﺔ للأطفال ذوا ي
En el presente informe, la Experta Independiente sobre el disfrute de los derechos humanos de las personas con albinismo presenta diversas perspectivas, las conclusiones de un proyecto de investigación conjunta y recomendaciones para hacer frente a la difícil situación que viven a diario las niñas y los niños con albinismo y mejorar sus experiencias vitales en el contexto del derecho a vivir en familia.
В настоящем докладе Независимый эксперт по вопросу об осуществлении прав человека людьми с альбинизмом излагает точки зрения, результаты осу-ществления совместного исследовательского проекта и рекомендации по реше-нию повседневных проблем и улучшению жизненной ситуации детей с альби-низмом в контексте права на семейную жизнь.
In the present report, the Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism provides perspectives, the findings of a joint research project, and recommendations on improving the daily challenges and life experiences of children with albinism in the context of the right to a family life.
Dans le présent rapport, l’Experte indépendante sur l’exercice des droits de l’homme par les personnes atteintes d’albinisme expose des points de vue ainsi que les conclusions d’un projet de recherche conjoint, et formule des recommandations pour atténuer les difficultés quotidiennes rencontrées par les enfants atteints d’albinisme et pour améliorer leurs conditions de vie, dans le contexte du droit à une vie de famille.
This report interrogates the normative framework governing child participation in South Africa. It provides an analysis of international human rights obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child.
The article explores the implications of the use of clientelism in orphanage trafficking for prevention efforts, child protection governance reforms, and rehabilitation of children whose perception of exploitation and victimization has been shaped by their socialization to clientelism norms
This study examines the socioeconomic determinants of COVID-19-induced poverty among households with children in refugee-hosting districts of Uganda, comparing refugee and host households. It also investigates the role of social assistance in preventing poverty.
This study was based in Southern Australia and aimed to examine the association between child maltreatment and the receipt of income support payments and the budgetary impact for persons 16 to 33 years.
The report documents the effects of conflict on children in the Sudan, highlighting trends and patterns of the six grave violations against children, namely the recruitment and use of children, the killing and maiming of children, rape and other forms of sexual violence against children, attacks on schools, hospitals and protected persons in relation to schools and/or hospitals, a the abduction of children and the denial of humanitarian access.
This paper aims to examine the social support network structures of youth in out-of-home care in the U.S. and to delineate the type of social support activities provided by kin and fictive kin within the networks.
This fact sheet was engages with experts, particularly those with lived experience of human trafficking, to provide expertise and input on the U.S. Department of State anti-trafficking policies, strategies, and products. The authors have a range of expertise related to human trafficking, marginalized communities, trauma recovery, education, mental health care, and survivor leadership.
The South African Early Childhood Review 2024 tracks data on the status of children under six years.
This study highlights the absence of intimate parental care due to many sociopolitical circumstances in India, which creates a vacuum in fostering early childhood care. The objectives were to determine the dilemmas faced by care providers in the limited resources division between their own and their kin’s child and the invisible social stigma associated with the tag of orphans.
