Family engagement is a critical component of child welfare practice. The present study analyzes publicly available data to document U.S. state efforts to engage families.

This article records briefly the history of the Family Inclusion Network as an organisation that promotes family inclusive child protection practice.

This position paper examines how stigma shapes reproductive health, poverty alleviation, and child welfare, influencing policy, service provision, and lived experiences. It argues that stigma is a structural barrier that worsens inequalities and calls for a cross-sectoral, lived experience–informed approach to reduce exclusion and improve outcomes.

In this report, the Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities, Heba Hagrass, highlights barriers faced by children with disabilities and their caregivers to the enjoyment of their human rights, in the absence of adequate support services.

This article examines the challenges of foster care in Nigeria, highlighting risks of abuse—especially in informal placements—and questioning whether foster care is always necessary or suitable. It concludes that foster care should be a last resort, urging preventive measures and, where unavoidable, the use of safe and appropriate foster homes that prioritize the best interests of the child.

This study explores the policy environment for children cared for by grandparents in Libode, Eastern Cape, South Africa, finding no specific policies to guide or support such caregiving. It recommends developing dedicated policies, resources, and information to better equip grandparents, while contributing new insights to scholarship and informing policymakers.

This article examines challenges in Sri Lanka’s child protection system for children with disabilities, drawing on insights from 11 professionals to identify critical gaps in policy, services, and societal attitudes. It proposes eight practical, cost-conscious strategies to strengthen disability-inclusive protection aligned with the UN CRPD, offering lessons for global child protection reform.

In The Empowerment Shift, Emmanuel "Nabs" Nabieu—who once grew up in an orphanage himself—offers a clear, practical roadmap for transforming how we care for vulnerable children.

The Kafaalah Community Engagement Facilitator's Flipbook is a practical guide designed to support trained facilitators—such as Children Officers, Imams, Ustadh, Ustadhas, and other Muslim community leaders—in delivering community sessions on the Kafaalah. It offers structured guidance for engaging male caregivers, female caregivers, and children through interactive sessions.

The Kafaalah Facilitator’s Guide is part of a training package to strengthen understanding and implementation of Kafaalah, a family-based alternative care option for children in Kenya. Developed by the Government of Kenya with support from Changing the Way We Care, it provides structured session plans, tools, and activities to help child protection professionals and community members effectively promote and practice Kafaalah.

This package of materials on Kafaalah - was developed by the Government of Kenya in collaboration with Changing the Way We Care, UNICEF, and other key development partners and civil society actors.

This article examines how care leavers navigate their relationships with biological mothers and fathers. It is based on a qualitative study from Austria, which focused on social networks and family relationships of 18-to 27-year-old care-experienced youth.

This study examined the short-term impacts of COVID-19-related orphanhood on children and adolescents in peri-urban Khayelitsha, South Africa, finding that those who lost a parent or primary caregiver experienced significantly greater mental health burdens, food insecurity, caregiving responsibilities, and engagement in social risk behaviours compared to peers without such loss.

This study explores the experiences of exploited orphans in institutional care in India and the factors that contribute to their cognitive resilience, using qualitative interviews with 20 children aged 12–16. Findings show that resilience is shaped by problem-solving skills, goal setting, self-regulation, peer support, education, and stable caregiving, highlighting the need for policies and interventions that strengthen both individual and environmental supports.

This paper reviews the challenges faced by unaccompanied and separated migrant children (USMC) in South Africa and the implications for social work practice. It highlights how social workers often lack adequate training and resources to meet the complex, multicultural needs of USMC, emphasizing cross-cultural social work as the most appropriate model for support.

This scoping review analyzes 31 studies on young women leaving residential care worldwide, highlighting their unique gender-specific challenges such as early pregnancy and gender-based violence. Despite recurring patterns across contexts, research on this group remains limited, especially as they are often treated as a subset of broader studies, pointing to the need for more focused investigation.

This article uses Nancy Fraser’s social justice framework to examine the experiences of youth leaving care in Ghana, South Africa, Uganda, and Zimbabwe, drawing on interviews with 45 care-leavers conducted by peer researchers. Findings reveal how intersecting injustices—such as stigma, exclusion, and lack of resources—undermine their transition to adulthood, underscoring the need for stronger aftercare services, recognition of diverse identities, and greater youth participation in shaping policy and support.

This review explores South Africa’s foster care grant system, highlighting how rising numbers of children in foster care have strained social workers and overwhelmed the system. It examines challenges such as lapsing foster care orders, dependency concerns, and unsustainable practices, while offering recommendations to strengthen the system and better support children and families.

This report provides an in-depth analysis of trends and progress in reducing the number of residential care facilities in Cambodia and the children placed in them between 2015–2024.

This scoping review examines how social workers decide to place children in residential care and how facilities are selected, drawing on 10 global studies analyzed through the Decision-Making Ecology framework. Findings reveal that decisions are often shaped by a child’s age, clinical needs, and professional discretion, but frequently lack structured assessments, consistent child involvement, and reliable information—pointing to the need for stronger collaboration and research to support more child-centred practices.

A round table in Brussels, co-hosted by Hope and Homes for Children and European Parliament Vice President Victor Negrescu, explored child protection and care reform in Moldova within the context of EU accession. The report highlights progress made, ongoing challenges, and shared commitments to ensuring every child in Moldova grows up in a safe and caring family.

Many children in kinship care face trauma, poverty, and strained family relationships, yet their carers often lack adequate support. This feasibility study of Family Solutions’ mediation and positive parenting intervention in South Hampshire, U.K. highlights promising approaches to strengthen communication, reduce conflict, and improve outcomes for kinship families.

This study investigated how Finnish, Taiwanese, and U.S. children conceptualized and experienced care.

This working paper by Joan Lombardi, senior advisor to the Collaborative on Global Children's Issues, and Lauren Simmons provides a brief overview of the risks and potential of early childhood and the changing climate and showcases a dozen innovative approaches where early childhood and climate sectors have successfully converged.

BBC Eye Investigations follows the journey of Reem al-Kari to find her son Karim Turjman - one of 3,700 children who went missing during Syria’s civil war from 2011 to 2024.