This article reports on the findings of a study of foreign children, including from Burundi, accommodated in the care system in the Western Cape, based on fieldwork conducted in child and youth care centres (CYCCs). 

This research explores links between child protection and peacebuilding. It includes a section examining community child protection mechanisms in Burundi.

This examination of Burundi’s Second Periodic Report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child includes a section on Alternative Care and Family Environment that details Burundi’s progress and challenges in areas such as regulation of adoption and residential care for children. 

This report provides a review of two projects: Building a Caring Environment for Children in Burundi (UNICEF), which addresses child care reform and New Generation (IRC) which addresses household economic strengthening and parenting skills. 

This is an impact evaluation of New Generation,  a three-year project comprised of two components: 1) A VSLA intervention involving the establishment of Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) and the provision of entrepreneurship and financial literacy education and 2) A fami

This brief presents the results of the mid-term evaluation of the New Generation project - a three-year project comprised of two components: 1) A VSLA intervention involving the establishment of Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) and the provision of entrepreneurship and financial lite

Cet article donne un bref aperçu de la question des mendiants et des enfants de la rue dans la ville de Bujumbura, au Burundi.

Ce document décrit les principes, les objectifs, et les stratégies d’une politique nationale pour la protection des OEV au Burundi.

This article studies different medical and psychological models of orphanhood and the effects these models have on the resiliency of orphanhood.

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 the Child.

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.

While there is a good amount of trafficking research that focuses on Africa, much of the research has greatly neglected child trafficking and its traits within the borders of a particular country. The goal of this article is to take stock of the child trafficking situation within Madagascar’s borders. This article examines the impact of supply-and-demand factors on child trafficking in Madagascar and discusses the approaches that should be used in the implementation of anti-trafficking policies.

This study investigates the effects of Community Care Coalitions on child protection in Assosa City, Ethiopia. It explores services and strategies employed by Community Care Coalitions to address child protection, as well as challenges faced by Community Care Coalitions while attempting to provide these services.

This paper highlights the difficulties faced by foreign minors and how the gaps in law leave them undocumented, vulnerable and unable to access social services. This paper also discusses how South Africa’s approach to accompanied and unaccompanied foreign minor children provides no durable long term solutions for these children, effectively leaving them in a legal hole once they reach the age of majority.

In this research paper Asnakech Tesfaye explores the expectations of Ethiopian children applying for an Australian Orphan Visa.  Tesfaye’s research found children applying for visas expected to get better education, employment, material benefits and living conditions. 

This article discusses how the resilience of foster children can be increassed, and their outcomes changed through the responsible and intentional interventions of health care professionals, child welfare workers, and communities.

This article discusses adoption in the international human rights framework.  Most specifically, it focuses on the rights of the child and how to proceed with adoptions by keeping in mind the best interest of the child.  

This is a statutory instrument detailing rules and regulations surrounding alternative care homes. This instrument defines what is necessary for the care and well-being of children within alternative care, and what they require medically and socially.

In this National Action Plan for Child Well-Being, Uganda spells out goals, plans, and actions it needs to take to improve child well-being in Uganda.   The document points out that 62 percent of persons living in poverty are children.  It notes that 33 percent of children under 5 are stunted, and it further states that only 37 percent of children make it to secondary education. 

This article presents findings from a study on children who were adopted by lesbian or gay parents from within the United States foster care system, as well as a survey from the adoptive parents.  The article reviews the controversial issues facing gay and lesbian adoptive parents.  

“Paper Orphans: Exploring Child Trafficking for the Purpose of Orphanages” serves as a legal analysis of child trafficking for the purpose of filling orphanages.  This paper focuses on the displacement of the child and intends to determine whether or not this displacement can be determined as trafficking under international law.

The purpose of this report is to review the current conditions of the global social workforce.  This study is meant to identify critical gaps in order prioritize current workforce strengthening research.

This paper discusses a large evaluation study that attempts to describe the impacts of the alcohol control laws enacted in various indigenous communities.   Participants were interviewed and asked to give their thoughts on how the laws have affected them medically, economically and socially.

Establishing the context of this study of adoptive parenthood and open adoption, MacDonald describes the legal, policy, and social frameworks that shape the experience of adoptive parenthood. The role of adoption in child welfare policy is identified, specifically in the UK and USA where it provides permanence for significant numbers of children in State care.

This research examined psychological and background correlates of bullying in adolescent residential care. Young people aged 11–21 (N = 601) from 22 residential institutions in Croatia completed an anonymous self-reported bullying questionnaire, the Basic Empathy Scale, the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale and the Big Five Personality Inventory.

This study was aimed to identify adjustment problems of adolescents residing in an orphanage in Kerala, India, as well as to find out the association between adjustment problems of adolescents residing at orphanage with their socio-demographic variables. 

This document is a report on a study which involved a survey of all foreign-born children placed in child and youth care centers across South Africa’s Western Cape Province.  The study examines the intersection between migration law and children’s rights.  

This report examines the effects the 2015 Nepal earthquakes had on vulnerable populations.  It lists several concerns faced since the earthquake, which include the thousands of people who have lost their homes and children left unaccompanied. 

The aim of this literature review was to critique the state of the research on the effects of implementing parenting programmes in shelters for homeless families. A comprehensive search of multiple databases yielded 12 studies for inclusion. 

Providing educative help at home means that professionals have to enter into the intimacy of families and share daily tasks often for a long time. Family support workers spend many hours alongside parents, helping them with their domestic and parenting tasks. 

The role of residential care for children has developed very differently internationally, but in all cultural contexts, there are questions about the extent to which it can help young people recover from high risk backgrounds. In the UK, residential care has come to be seen as the placement of last resort, yet new government guidance on permanence has suggested that residential care can provide security and a sense of belonging. 

Compared to children in other placements, there is much less known about the characteristics and needs of children in the UK who are returned to their birth parents with a care order still in place.

The aim of this component of a preliminary cross-national study (Ireland and Catalonia) of care leavers' experience in the world of work is to explore how carers may influence the entry of young people in care into the world of work and how they may also influence the young people's progress in that world. 

Meant to highlight the maxim that every child deserves the best that we all have to give; this book provides a review of the progress made since The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.  It contains reports from 21 countries on the status of the rights of the child.  The countries are:  Australia, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, India, Iran, Japan, Portugal, Romania, Scotland, Serbia, Solomon Islands, Spain, the Netherlands, the UK, the USA, Uzbekistan and Venezuela. There are no reports from Africa.

This article examines the cultural differences Korean adoptees perceived when interacting with their birth families along with the impact of these perceived differences. The article points out that there has been little research on transnational adoptees, as most research focuses on domestic adoptees.  The researchers interviewed 19 adoptees and examined their perceived differences.  They found that differences had a wide variety of impacts on the participants’ sense of belonging. 

This booklet is based on a recent internal desk review of Save the Children’s and partners’ work against physical and humiliating punishment of children, commissioned by Save the Children Sweden. It aims to present best practices, to show what methods have worked around the world, and to spread knowledge about results achieved and lessons learned when it comes to law reform and positive discipline.  

This report from Research in Practice examines the wellbeing of children in care in the UK and the approaches to measuring wellbeing.

This article presents a systematic review of the existing knowledge of the situation of recently arrived refugee children in the host country. 

This study was aimed at filling a gap in information on Commune Committees for Women and Children (CCWCs) and their function. This study examines the successes of CCWCs in implementing and achieving policy goals, and the roles they play in linking children and families to child protection services.

'Early Childhood Matters' is an annual publication from the Bernard van Leer Foundation which aims to “spread awareness of promising solutions to support holistic child development and explore the elements needed to take those solutions to scale.”

To examine the science, economics, and politics of investing in the health, education, nutrition, and social protection of children at the margins, the Forum on Investing in Young Children Globally (iYCG Forum) held a workshop in Prague, Czech Republic, on November 3–4, 2015, titled, “Reaching and Investing in Children at the Margins.” This report summarizes the workshop and highlights the key learning from the event.

The aims of this document are to: 1. Provide an overview of child protection systems strengthening in emergencies practice to date, and based on this, 2. Propose certain key considerations with regards to systems for child protection practitioners. 

This paper analyzes the concluding sections of assessment reports on applicants for intercountry adoption in Sweden to answer the following question: what must be said about an individual or a couple in order for her/them to be seen as a suitable adoptive parent?

This paper examines the benefits and challenges of de-institutionalizing disability residential services in Croatia through Open Society Foundation’s Mental Health Initiative (MHI). 

This is a Call to Action issued by the Doha International Family Institute commemorating the International Year of the Family.  

This is a resource guide designed for PEPFAR implementing partners to help them effectively design and implement economic strengthening activities for vulnerable children. The guide lists gender, age, social inclusion, conflict, accessibility, chronic illness, and environment as reasons that certain children and households are vulnerable.

This study compares programs and services that support youth in care during their transition to adulthood and independent living in Chicago, USA to those in Barcelona, Spain.

This report tells the story of “forgotten children,” children who are relegated to the margins of society due to discrimination and subjected to the hardships of poverty. The report is aimed at identifying what is required to meet the needs of these children and to ensure their basic rights to survive and thrive, to learn, and to be protected.

The aim of this guide is to draw together SCF’s recent experience of family tracing.

In this meta-analysis of 75 studies on more than 3,888 children in 19 different countries, the intellectual development of children living in children's homes (orphanages) was compared with that of children living with their (foster) families.

The objective of this child protection systems mapping and analysis is to provide stakeholders with a descriptive profile of their existing system, and an initial assessment of its contextual appropriateness and relevance to the populations being served. 

The present volume contains the resolutions adopted by the General Assembly from 15 September to 24 December 2009, including the Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children on page 376.

This symposium, sponsored by the CPC Network, Women’s Refugee Commission, and FHI 360, brought together leading global practitioners, researchers, policy experts and donors to explore the current best practices and evidence on the use of economic strengthening interventions to prevent child separation from, and support child reintegration back into, families and communities.

This two-page brief from USAID describes the “Keeping Children in Healthy and Protective Families” project, a project that is part of 4Children that “focuses on strengthening family care among households at high risk of children separating or where children can be reintegrated after having been placed in residential care.”

This report presents the findings of a regional study on children’s participation in Southern Africa. 

This report from Save the Children examines the experiences of “children on the move,” the types of supports they need, and how protection systems can be adapted to meet those needs. 

This doctoral thesis by Hye-Young Lim examines the laws around the recognition of child-headed households in South Africa, particularly in the context of HIV/AIDS.

This mapping and analysis was conducted in late 2009 in Sierra Leone to analyze the existing laws, structures and services for child protection in the country and found these laws and systems to be falling short of reaching their intended impact. 

The purpose of this integrative chapter on well-being and the family is to present the analysis of a number of family-based factors that can influence child well-being.

This paper reports on a research capacity building initiative designed to address the lack of research and evidence on the efficacy of child welfare services in Canada.

The present study aimed to assess the relationship between interpersonal traumatic experiences and specific psychopathological symptoms in a high-risk population of girls and boys living in youth welfare institutions in residential care in Switzerland.

This research aimed to gain a better understanding of kinship care, its practice issues, and its role in the South Australian alternative care system. 

This study examines the effects of early institutional care on infants' brain development.

Based on an in-depth analysis of Cameroonian policies for care and support to orphans and vulnerable children (OVC), this chapter will show that despite the inclusion of this issue as a strategic priority in fighting against AIDS, Cameroonian authorities are non-significant managers.

This study analyzes the experiences of adolescents living with HIV or AIDS.

This study reports on children’s experiences of living with HIV-positive parents within the family context of Bangladesh. 

In this study, data from 60 nationally representative household surveys (36 countries) were analyzed to establish if orphanhood and adult household illness consistently identified children with worse outcomes and also to identify other factors associated with adverse outcomes for children.

This chapter analyses how social identity influences children’s recruitment into armed conflict and their reintegration. 

A retrospective exploratory study on 73 family group decision making conferences for children referred to institutional public services in Kenya to investigate the short, medium and long term conference outcomes on child’s safety, permanency and wellbeing.

This study from CESVI examines the magnitude and characteristics of child labor in Kenya, particularly the “worst forms of child labour (WFCL) in Kenya,” with a focus on the urban context of Nairobi and on the rural context of the Nyanza province.

These Terminology Guidelines were developed by an Interagency Working Group to "offer guidance on how to navigate the complex lexicon of terms commonly used relating to sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children."

This paper presents findings from a doctoral project that explored the experiences of young people growing up in foster care in the United Kingdom.

The filmmaker Daniel Mulloy has directed a new 20-minute film, entitled ‘Home,’ which is inspired by the current refugee crisis. 

The present study focused on whether parenting and family factors explain variance in cognitive and linguistic catch-up in children adopted internationally.

This online resource, complete with videos and infographics, accompanies a report from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees which details the experiences of Syrian refugee children and youth.

This report from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees details the experiences of Syrian refugee children and youth.

This practice paper from the Australian Institute of Family Studies presents an overview of the research on the impacts of trauma on children’s brain development for children placed in out-of-home care and offers basic principles for responding to children’s trauma. 

This report reviews Malawi’s national response for children affected by HIV and AIDS. The report notes significant progress made in improving the lives of children affected by HIV and AIDS and offers key recommendations for further improvements to national policies and strategies.

This mapping and assessment report of Malawi’s Child Protection System offers key recommendations to strengthen the child protection system, including enforcing legislation, coordinating mechanisms, building capacity of the social service workforce, harmonization of child protection services, and strengthening accountability mechanisms.

This article discusses professional discretion in relation to placing a child outside the family, as understood by Malawian social workers. 

This paper from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) offers some recommendations on optimizing cash transfers in order to have the greatest impact on those affected by HIV/AIDS.

The primary goal of this research was to examine whether Malawi Social Cash Transfer Pilot Scheme, initially implemented in a rural district in central Malawi, improved health outcomes for children aged 6–17.

This report from SOS Children’s Villages assesses Malawi’s compliance with, and implementation of, the UN Guidelines on the Alternative Care of Children. 

This report from SOS Children’s Villages examines the range of services available to families in Malawi to prevent family separation as well as the administrative measures and national policy frameworks governing these services. 

This paper reflects on the experiences of Save the Children in implementing a multi-country community-based participatory research (CBPR) program to increase understanding of kinship care in DRC, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.

This study analyzed the current social protection environment in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and examined the “vulnerabilities and risks facing children living in poverty in Kinshasa, Bas Congo and Katanga provinces.” 

Using the DFID sustainable livelihood approach, this qualitative study evaluated the social capital being accessed by adolescent girls transitioning from two institutions in Harare, Zimbabwe.

Aiming to support the design of effective intervention strategies, this study examines the hypothesized causal effect of foster children's poor school performance on subsequent psychosocial problems, here conceptualized as economic hardship, illicit drug use, and mental health problems, in young adulthood. 

This article highlights effective approaches to staying connected with (i.e., recruiting, relocating, and retaining) youth participants who have transitioned out of foster care in longitudinal research studies.

This study describes natural mentoring among preadolescent children placed in out-of-home care and examines the association between natural mentoring and demographic, maltreatment, placement, and psychosocial characteristics.

Esta investigación se aborda la necesidad de profundizar en la adquisición y consolidación de las competencias profesionales fundamentales para la acción socioeducativa grupal con familias acogedoras.

This research addresses the need to go deeper into the acquisition and consolidation of the core professional competences for running socio-educational groups with foster families.

 This paper aims to address the role of future expectations among young people leaving care in the context of resilience theory and emerging adulthood theory.

Using unique 5-year longitudinal data on Korean children in group homes and those under institutional care, this paper compared the medium-term cost-effectiveness of group homes and that of institutional care facilities in terms of developmental outcomes. 

The results of this study suggest that the removal of a child from an institution and its transfer to an improved care environment can lead to a reduced risk of psychopathology, as well as promoting a better social, emotional and cognitive development.

This exploratory research involved focus group consultations with seven child and family welfare agencies to investigate the impacts, barriers, benefits and limitations of cultural support planning for Indigenous young people in, and leaving care in, Victoria.