Families over Facilities is a call to action to end the unnecessary institutionalization of children in child welfare. The report details the physical, mental and emotional harm done to children in group settings, the significant unnecessary taxpayer costs associated with the practice, and violations of children’s civil and human rights.

This essay describes the impact of the pandemic on the authors' experiences as Independent Visitors (IVs) for children who are looked-after.

This issue of the e-journal CYC-Online includes articles on the impact of COVID-19 on children in alternative care in South Asia, residential care centers during COVID-19, child welfare experience among child and youth care practitioners, and more.

This article describes the steps taken by Udayan Care responded to the needs of children in their care during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This paper is a condensed version of a study entitled “Beyond 18: Leaving Child Care Institutions - Supporting Youth Leaving Care: A Study of Aftercare Practices in Five States of India”, which found that upon turning 18, youth transitioning out of child care institutions to independent life in India experience many challenges, such as securing housing and identity documents; accessing education, skill development,  and employment opportunities; and garnering psychosocial support.

Este documento profundiza en la investigación de la inversión pública en aquellos programas o actividades en Guatemala que tienen como beneficiario final la niñez y adolescencia, separado de sus progenitores y que crece bajo el abrigo de una institución o de una familia extendida o sustituta.

This video tells the story of Georgi, a boy born with Down's Syndrome in Bulgaria whose parents were told they wouldn't be able to care for him and were encouraged to place him in an orphanage. They placed him in an orphanage and were later supported by Hope and Homes for Children to have him returned to their care.

This briefing paper - developed by UNICEF and the Social Policy Research Institute, in collaboration with the National Development Planning Commission - built on existing microdata, analyses of children’s vulnerabilities and specific phone survey data collected between March and June 2020. The paper outlines the primary and secondary impacts of COVID-19 on children in Ghana, including the impacts on vulnerable children such as children with disabilities, street-connected children, and children in residential care.

Catholic Medical Mission Board Zambia (CMMB), SPOON, and St. Catherine's University conducted this Health Impact Assessment (HIA) in Lusaka Province, Zambia, to understand the disparate impact that COVID-19 and the containment measures had on children with disabilities and their families. his two-phased assessment is designed to gather evidence about the impact through seven domains: COVID-19 knowledge and practices, food consumption, housing and livelihood, child safety and risk of separation, child health and wellness, parental and child stress, and education.

This article discusses findings from an evaluation of a pioneering early help service in North West England. This new service aimed to improve the safety and wellbeing of families (mothers and children) who were assessed as below the level of ‘high risk’ domestic violence and below the threshold for a child protection order.

This article synthesizes relevant theories and models of disaster, migration, and family resilience in order to create a framework in which to organize the complex processes that occur within families as a result of migration and that affect the mental health of children.

This report presents the latest findings from the Growth Beyond the Town Girls and Boys Town South Africa (GBTSA)/University of Johannesburg (UJ) joint partnership longitudinal research study. Presented are the findings from 150 participants who were interviewed as they disengaged from GBTSA, as well as the outcomes of many of these care-leavers that have been measured each year during follow-up interviews.

This booklet has been designed to help local authorities, schools and their partners work together to ensure they can provide every child, including looked after children, with the kind of positive learning experience which is the foundation for future success.

This report shares the findings of a focused piece of research carried out in Scotland by CELCIS and partners at the University of Edinburgh. The aim of the research was to understand care leavers' experiences of digital exclusion before and during the COVID-19 restrictions in Scotland in 2020.

This webinar event launched the report 'The digital divide: The impact on the rights of care leavers in Scotland,' which shares the findings of a focused piece of research that sought to understand care leavers' experiences of digital exclusion before and during the COVID-19 restrictions in Scotland in 2020.

This guidance from the UK Department for Education sets out the steps local authorities and their partners should take to prevent children from going missing and to protect them when they do go missing.

This article from the Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology examines the extent to which psychosocial deprivation increases the risk of later cognitive and psychiatric difficulties and the downstream consequences of this for risk-taking behavior in adolescence. The current study included 165 children, 113 with a history of institutionalization and 52 with no such history.

The Children’s Commissioner of New Zealand undertook a thematic review of the policies, processes and practices of Oranga Tamariki Ministry for Children relating to care and protection issues for pēpi Māori (Māori infants) aged 0-3 months. This second report comes to the clear conclusion that to keep pēpi in the care of their whānau, Māori must be recognised as best placed to care for their own.

The Children’s Commissioner of New Zealand undertook a thematic review of the policies, processes and practices of Oranga Tamariki Ministry for Children relating to care and protection issues for pēpi Māori (Māori infants) aged 0-3 months. This first report presents the insights gained from interviews with mums and whānau (family) who had experience with pēpi (aged 0-3 months) who had either been removed, or were at risk of being removed, from their whānau by Oranga Tamariki or its predecessor Child, Youth and Family.

This study aimed to unravel the different issues and challenges that hinder the effective rehabilitation of children in child care institutions in India.

This study analyzed three open-ended responses from a national online survey examining compassion fatigue in Children’s Advocacy Centers (CACs) to understand the impact of work-related stress on child welfare workers (CWWs).

This article reports on a systematic scoping review which investigated research publications on participation in making life-impacting decisions by young people.

This resource is provided as a working bibliography of key research and evidence-based policy papers on the care of orphans and other vulnerable children separated from parental care.

Esta guía es la tercera publicación en una serie producida por the Faith to Action Initiative (Iniciativa de Fe en Acción) para proporcionar a las iglesias, a las organizaciones basadas en la fe, e individuos de fe con información para ayudar a guiar la “mejor práctica”. La guía proporciona una visión general de una gama de opciones de cuidado alternativo para los niños que han sido separados del cuidado parental.

This study addresses a gap in the literature regarding older youth with intellectual disabilities who are sexually victimized and pushed to engage in transactional sex while they are transitioning from child welfare systems involvement. It does so by examining risk and protective factors at the individual, micro, exo, and macro systems levels.