This special section of the journal of Research on Social Work Practice focuses on adoption breakdown.

Using the findings from a qualitative study, this paper explores social workers’ experiences of intervening in affluent families in the UK when there are child protection concerns.

This thesis explores the experiences and meanings that are attributed to kinship care by caregivers, young people of African descent, and social workers.

The aim of this study was to investigate how workers within Child Protective Services (CPS) systems in Colorado and the Netherlands measure and perceive the effectiveness of their CPS system.

This analysis examines both historical and contemporary approaches to addressing religion and race in child welfare policy and practice, with a particular focus on adolescent youth.

This study evaluated the health service needs of left-behind children ages 3-5 years old in Hunan Province, China.

The aims of this study were to systematically evaluate and comparatively analyse the mental health status of left‐behind children (LBC) in China and to provide a scientific basis for mental intervention and healthy education for LBC.

The First International Conference of the Department of Social Work, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, with the theme “Emerging and Contemporary Social Issues: The place of Social Work Education and Practice in Nigeria” was held 10-13 September 2018 and included 96 oral presentations of papers by delegates from across the country. Several papers focused on illegal adoptions of children in Nigeria and the role of social workers in addressing this practice.

This article by staff attorney for family law and child welfare at the Virginia Poverty Law Center's Center for Family Advocacy, Valerie L’Herrou, outlines and analyses several new bills introduced by the Virginia General Assembly in 2018 and their impacts on young people aging out of the foster care system and family reintegration.

This study investigated out-of-home placements in Finland among children with a biological mother having schizophrenia, and their relation to maternal characteristics and adverse perinatal health outcomes of the offspring.

This study explored the personal self-care practices of foster parents in one southeastern state in the US.

This exploratory, qualitative, multi-case study sought to understand, from the perspective of successful foster alumni college students, the role and influence of family members.

Building on discourse analyses of custody deprivation cases, the authors of this paper call for greater understanding of how disability intersects with parenting and the need for an improved support system.

This study compared adolescents in residential care (RC) in Portugal, with a Portuguese community sample on the incidence of mental health problems and psychosocial skills, explored gender differences and the relationships between mental health problems and psychosocial competencies.

This study examined the impact of the model of professional childcare in a three-year project involving fifty-three children and young people and their carers in local-authority children’s homes on two UK areas (Northern and Southern England).

This book takes readers on a journey that spans three decades and five continents, describing the work of SFAC to keep children in their families and communities or to find safe alternatives where this is not possible.

This paper from the Institutionalised Children: Explorations and Beyond Special Issue on Aftercare provides an insight into the lives of two care leavers to understand their experiences in the world outside care. It brings out significant recommendations for reforms in aftercare policies for children leaving care.

This study from the Institutionalised Children: Explorations and Beyond Special Issue on Aftercare describes the mental health outcomes and transition experiences of a group of young adults who are currently transitioning (aftercare) or have already transitioned (alumni) out of a residential care organisation for orphaned and separated children (OSC) in New Delhi, India.

This study from the Institutionalised Children: Explorations and Beyond Special Issue on Aftercare was conducted on 47 young adults who had grown up in various government and non-government child care institutions of New Delhi, India and the aftercare services they did or did not receive. The analysis revealed that the existing aftercare programmes are ill-equipped to prepare Out-of-Home Care (OHC) youth to transition from alternative care to independent living.

This study from the Institutionalised Children: Explorations and Beyond Special Issue on Aftercare is aimed at studying the concept of aftercare from the prism of human rights and the international framework in context of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the UN resolution, Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children. Furthermore, the research is aimed at analysing the legal provisions and standards provided within the Indian legal system and how far it is attuned to the international standards.

This article from the Institutionalised Children Explorations and Beyond Special Issue on Aftercare explores the outcomes for young people who have transitioned out of alternative care and into independent living in Sri Lanka and the need for policy changes to better meet their needs.

This issue of the ICEB journal is a special edition on the aftercare concerns of young adults who leave the care of agencies and embark on a journey of their own.

The main objective of this study is to explore, from a bottom-up perspective, the moderating effect of an experienced happiness indicator (OHS) and the daily-life activities shared between caregivers and adolescents in the residential care system in Peru.

This volume is an effort to highlight best practices for children without parental care.