This factsheet provides child welfare professionals with an overview of motivational interviewing, describes circumstances when it could be applied, and highlights the basics of the method.

This publication from the Child Welfare Information Gateway presents an overview of US state laws that designate the officials and entities that may have access to the confidential records of child abuse and neglect reports and investigations, the circumstances under which information may be disclosed, and the appropriate use of confidential information. 

This study evaluates the ‘Nurturing Attachment’ program in the UK, a Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy intervention for adoptive families.

This research digest is the 8th in the series on adolescence. This edition focuses on protection from violence, health and development & learning. 

This resource from Opening Doors for Europe's Children features an interactive map of Europe which offers a brief description of children's care reforms in highlighted countries.  

The main objective of this Joint Rapid Education and Child Protection Need Assessment (JRNA) was to identify education and child protection needs, priorities and capacities of Rohingya boys and girls in the camps, settlements and host community in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh to inform and provide the evidence-base for the 2018 Joint Response Plan (JRP). 

This country care review includes the care-related Concluding Observations adopted by the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

This country care review includes the care-related Concluding Observations adopted by the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

This study employed event-related potentials (ERPs) to examine the neural correlates of facial emotion processing in 12-year-old children who took part in a randomized controlled trial of foster care as an intervention for early institutionalization. 

Bridging Two Worlds provides teachers, school administrators and counsellors in Canada with the knowledge and practical resources to deliver more informed and culturally responsive career development and guidance to newcomer and refugee youth from Kindergarten to Grade 12. 

This study examined facial emotion recognition in 12-year-olds in a longitudinally followed sample of children with and without exposure to early life psychosocial deprivation (institutional care).

In this essay from South African Child Gauge 2017, the authors seek to respond to the following questions: Why are caring relationships important for children’s development? What do we know about systems of care for children in South Africa? What are the factors that can compromise care? What are the interventions that can improve the quality of caring relationships?

The objectives of this study are to: use the methodology of a 2007 study to establish foster care minimum adequate rates for children (MARC) based on the child's age and geographical location in every state; update the MARC with cost of living adjustments to 2016; examine changes in gaps between the MARC and the current foster care rates; and identify states that have made increases to their reimbursement rates, relative to the MARC over time. 

This study draws on linked administrative data to describe the exposure of children aged less than 2 years to maternal imprisonment in Western Australia, their contact with child protection services, and infant mortality rates.

This study explores the childhood experiences and transitions to adulthood of 39 Romanian care leavers and adoptees, born around 1989 - 1990.

This qualitative study explored a relational practice approach with parents whose children have been removed into out-of-home care in Australia.

This report from the the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University in the United States argues that, to be maximally effective, policies and services should: (1) Support responsive relationships for children and adults, (2) Strengthen core life skills, and (3) Reduce sources of stress in the lives of children and families.

The first goal of this study was to describe posttraumatic symptoms (PTS) and problems in functioning among foster parents following their exposure to the war. 

The aim of this study was to compare the health of 4- to 6-year-old children in out-of-home care (OOHC) in Southern Tasmania, Australia with their peers.

This study explores violence experienced by children with disabilities based on data collected from four countries in West Africa- Guinea, Niger, Sierra Leone, and Togo.

This study sought to examine the feasibility of rejuvenating and strategically repositioning the Zunde raMambo (King’s granary) as a traditional orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) coping mechanism in Zimbabwe with a special reference to Gutu District.

This essay critically engages with the 2030 Global Agenda and assesses the potential of the SDGs to transform our world to enable all children – regardless of race, gender, ability, or social background – to not only survive but thrive.

In this study, the authors asked youth (formerly) in family foster care in the Netherlands to indicate their psychosocial needs, and analyzed if youth with a history of sexual abuse have different needs.

This research was conducted to study the relationships between academic performance, learning motivation, institutionalised environments and guardian involvement of children reared in a Malaysian orphanage.

This report from UNICEF provides an overview of the migrant and refugee crisis in Europe, including key highlights, statistics, and other data.

This article reviews the emerging literature on transnational parenthood, concentrating on six themes: gender, care arrangements, legislation, class, communication and moralities.

This qualitative study explored youth participation from the perspectives of 42 primary foster youth advisory boards facilitators in 34 states in the USA.

The Bucharest Early Intervention Project (BEIP), a randomized controlled trial of foster/family care for young children with a history of institutionalization has provided the context to assess these relationships. This article reviews data from the BEIP with specific focus on attachment.

This podcast gives listeners an overview of how Arizona Kinship Support Services implements the Family Group Conference (FGC) model.

The purpose of this study was to assess the perspective of social service providers who participated in a nine-month, trauma-informed care (TIC) training intervention on 1) their capacity to make referrals to trauma-specific services following the training, and 2) factors external to the training intervention that supported or hindered their ability to link traumatized youth with services.

This paper examines the experiences of young people who seek formal humanitarian recognition yet avoid detention by government agencies while in transit from Central America, through Mexico.

This study has reviewed existing literature on the definitions and components of social service systems and provides an analysis of data from key informants in the field of global social welfare. 

Based on data collected from a 2003 nationwide study, this article examines how left-behind children (specifically those aged 10–12 years old and adolescents) cope without their migrant parents.

This video from the National Child Welfare Workforce Institute explains how the state of Missouri in the US reformed its child welfare system by strengthening the social service workforce. 

This report provides data and background on challenges of placing siblings together in foster families.

This special report from the Education Commission of the States describes initiatives and policy changes underway in the US that support foster youth in pursuing postsecondary education.

This paper attempts to highlight and discuss some critical issues regarding unaccompanied migrant minors in Europe. 

The current study tests the ‘overburdening’ hypothesis that examines whether taking on the demands of work and school at the same time could overwhelm and actually hinder the healthy development of youth as they transition from foster care. 

This sudy sought to deepen understanding of the underlying patterns of services receipt of the  John F. Chafee Foster Care Independence Program (CFCIP) to prepare for youth’s successful transition to adulthood. The authors used multi-level latent class analysis (MLCA) to identify underlying combinations of service receipt that may be influenced by youth-level and state-level characteristics.

The present study examined whether the prospective association between cumulative pre-adoptive risk (e.g., maltreatment, age at placement, foster placement instability, ever having lived with birth parent) and adolescent/young-adult substance use was mediated by childhood internalizing and externalizing problems in youth adopted from foster care.

In this study, the authors examined the process of how relationships are built between Ethiopia adoptees and their adoptive families within the new family setting.

The present study concerning domestic adoption explored the adjustment of 37 adolescents and 22 emerging adults (with age ranging between 11 and 18 and 18 and 24 years, respectively), adopted through an Italian form of open adoption, and analyzed the quality of adoptive family relationships and adoptees' attachment as possible moderating variables in the relation between multiple pre-adoptive risk factors and adoptees' outcomes.

This chapter from 'New Directions in Children’s Welfare' applies the theorising emerging from mobilities discourses and applies them to children’s services. 

This article gives weight to children’s perspectives, and reports on the views of looked after children aged 7 to 10 in Scotland during the Letterbox Club project.

The aim of this article is to analyse juridification and standardisation as two legal dimensions influencing contemporary child-protection work, and to discuss its implications for practice.

This chapter from 'New Directions in Children’s Welfare' aims to discover the delicate dynamics of trust within the specific professional and service user relations in work with children and young people who are either Looked After or at risk of significant harm.

The introductory chapter of 'New Directions in Children’s Welfare' starts with a reflection from the author’s personal experience of social work practice and working with a family where the children are neglected and on the child protection register as a result.

This chapter from 'New Directions in Children’s Welfare' examines competing understandings of child welfare.

This randomised controlled trial will evaluate the Fostering Changes programme in Wales, a 12-week group-based training programme for foster and kin carers.

This book makes a distinctive contribution to reflections on what child-centred practice means in the complex area of child welfare. 

Within this chapter (from the book 'New Directions in Children’s Welfare,') three child abuse inquiry and Serious Case Review reports are explored to understand the contemporary landscape of Children’s Services and the ongoing challenges involved in protecting children and young people from harm.

This chapter outlines the interdisciplinary framework for understanding child welfare used throughout the book 'New Directions in Children’s Welfare.'

This chapter, from the book 'New Directions in Children’s Welfare,' explores the emotional and sensory dimensions of child welfare as an embodied practice which takes place across diverse sites, spaces and places. 

This chapter from the book 'Rutter's Child and Adolescent Psychiatry' focuses on foster care and residential care practices around the world and the benefits and challenges of supporting foster care interventions, transitioning away from the use of institutional care.

This article reviews and analyzes data from recent literature about recognition and processing of facial expressions in individuals with history of childhood neglect. 

This study explores the relationship between orphanhood prevalence, living arrangements and orphanhood reporting. 

This study empirically measures the perceptions towards maternal and paternal migration of male and female children who stay behind in Ghana.

Child Frontiers have been commissioned by the Better Care Network to carry out a review of published, on-going and planned research on children's care.  Please complete this short survey by 31^st January 2018 to let us know about any research or evaluations carried out by or funded by your organisation on care. 

The authors conducted a case-control study of 102 children with positive HIV serology out of 956 received and screened at admission at Sainte Claire Nursery (SCN) in Lomé from 1st January 2000 to 31st December 2014 with the aim of to determine the social profile, the weight evolution and the fate of these children admitted in a difficult situation.

Among older youth transitioning from the foster care system, this longitudinal study examined the association of religious and spiritual capital to substance use in the past year at age 19. 

This phenomenological study explored the “lived” experience of OoHC from the perspective of 4 adult care leavers reflecting on their childhood.

This study sought to build on previous work that calls for the need to develop programs to support foster care alumni in higher education and to obtain a better understanding of the characteristics of existing programs and the perceived programmatic and student challenges as reported by program directors and staff, faculty, and researchers. 

This article provides a discussion of the theoretical basis underpinning safety and risk assessment in child protection, and further describes the empirical research process involved in the development of safety and risk assessment tools and training materials for social workers in the South African child protection field. 

This is the first study in Ghana to explore child protection workers and parents’ experiences on participatory practices. 

This article outlines exploratory research in establishing a role for social work in child protection in Indonesia.

The objective of this essay is to determine how substitute child care in the Czech Republic has changed in the last ten years.

This is the final report of a mixed method research project aimed to support the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Royal Commission) in better understanding the life journeys of victim/survivors of child sexual abuse within institutions.

This report presents the findings of an evaluation of the UK's Adoption Support Fund undertaken by the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations.

This research collected rare and vital primary data by interviewing practitioners within looked-after children’s, residential, and respite services. The study established that practitioners lacked basic awareness of radicalisation and extremism, the Prevent strategy, and the Channel programme.

In June 2015, the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse conducted public hearings in relation to out‑of‑home care (OOHC) and allegations of child sexual abuse occurring in OOHC settings (Case Study 24). In December 2015, the Royal Commission commissioned this national research report.

This paper examines the situation of children in Romania whose parents are going to work abroad, leaving the children without parental care.

This package is a compilation of resources and new evidence for case management and supervision of humanitarian workers in responding to child protection situations.

This study aims to understand the decision-making process of 200 higher education students in domains related to child protection, and those of 200 professionals who are responsible for providing case assessments and recommendations for intervention in the Portuguese child protection system.

For many social workers, participatory practice may seem an unachievable goal, particularly in the field of child protection. This paper discusses a significant programme of change in one London local authority, as part of which the authors undertook 110 observations of practice and provided more than eighty follow-up coaching sessions for workers. 

Record rise in number of care applications has prompted England's most senior family court judge to warn of a looming “crisis”.

This chapter from the book 'A long way to go: Irregular migration patterns, processes, drivers and decision-making,' discusses the global trends in the migration of unaccompanied minors in recent years.

During the summer of 2016, in the midst of one of the biggest refugee crises in centuries, the author of this article joined the team from a shelter for unaccompanied refugee minors on Samos, Greece, in an effort to provide young boys seeking asylum in Europe with an opportunity to engage in speaking about the difficulties they have encountered in life. 

Based on empirical studies in 30 districts in six African countries, this paper makes the case that the highly localized models may not be perfect but are probably the best fit for implementing an all-encompassing Social Protection policy in Africa. 

This paper examines the deinstitutionalisation process in Bulgaria.

This paper examines the notion of “unaccompanied and separated children”  of Russia.

This article discusses on-going foster care reform in Russia and analyses possibilities for the evolution of partnerships between stakeholders. 

This article examines how Russian SOS Villages are undergoing foster reform, which prescribes a transition from institutional care for children deprived of parental care to family care model. 

The paper presents a detailed analysis of the Russian official statistics for orphans and children placed out of parental care. 

This study aimed to (1) evaluate the indicated prevention program Teaching Recovery Techniques (TRT) in a community setting and describe the program’s effects on symptoms of PTSD and depression in unaccompanied refugee minors; and (2) examine participants’ experiences of the program.

The current qualitative study is designed to address the gaps in the research literature on the needs of unaccompanied children in foster care in the US.

On 15 December 2017 the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Response to Child Sexual Abuse presented a final report to the Governor-General, detailing the culmination of a five year inquiry into institutional responses to child sexual abuse and related matters. 

This article presents the findings of a study that examined the emotional health status and coping mechanisms of adolescents living in residential care facilities in Malaysia, in comparison with that of adolescents living in families.

In this article, child protection managers and direct service workers in Saudi Arabia report their experiences in implementing new policies. 

The focus of this study is to explore the role of lay health workers in a community organization providing palliative care to orphans and vulnerable children affected by HIV/AIDS, located in rural Bronkhorstspruit, Gauteng Province of South Africa. 

This paper provides an overview of the post 2015 immigration crisis in key European countries with a special focus on current demographics, refugee children, mental health studies, policies and practical support available for refugees.

This research aims to contribute to a deeper visibility of the care phenomena, giving specific attention to the foster families themselves. 

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to assess the experiences of child welfare workers trained in Family Finding and to assess the experiences of the youth who participated in Family Finding. 

This was a retrospective and descriptive study on infants living in prisons with their mothers in France.

This paper argues that assessment of relational quality of applicant foster parents must be a routine component of care practice evaluations, supported by assessment methods capable of distinguishing individual differences on the relational indices of interest. 

Dually-involved youth represent a population of youth who receive some level of supervision from both the child welfare and juvenile justice systems concurrently. The current study examined education-related risk factors, recidivism, referrals for services, and service access among dually-involved youth in Los Angeles County, USA.

The objective of this study is to examine suicide attempts and completions among mothers who had a child taken into care by child protection services (CPS).