In this article, the authors discuss residential staff in Sweden where residential care is part of the municipal child welfare system, which covers services targeting juvenile delinquency as well as other residential care services. Children and young people placed in Swedish residential care have diverse needs, from mainly supportive needs to advanced behavioral problems, and the field consists of open and secure residential care units.

This study investigates the impact of various sources of social support on the mental health of unaccompanied children under residential education in China. Unaccompanied children refer to those whose parents are still alive but unable to raise them due to various reasons.

This good practice guide published by Coram BAAF is for Access to Records Officers (AROs) and social workers in the UK who are providing access to records and related services for adult care leavers and aims to set out a protocol for dealing with Subject Access Requests (SARs) in order to improve services for adult care leavers and establish greater consistency and quality practice across organisations.

The climate crisis is already changing girls’ lives and futures. Save the Children’s analysis shows that between now and 2030, almost 60% of girls - that’s 931 million - will experience at least one extreme weather event, like flooding, drought or heatwaves.

The climate crisis is already changing girls’ lives and futures. Girls across Africa are facing growing challenges as the climate crisis increasingly impacts the continent, leading to a range of extreme weather patterns. In southern parts of Africa, girls are enduring devastating cyclones and floods. Meanwhile, the Sahel, Eastern, and Horn of Africa regions - home to the highest rates of child marriage - are grappling with severe droughts. Climate-induced migration is also on the rise in Western, Southern, and Central Africa.

This year’s adolescent-friendly Global Girlhood Report explores how the climate crisis impacts girls’ rights. It features new analysis by Save the Children on emergency hotspots where girls face the dual threat of child marriage and climate disasters, and stories of girls advocating for climate action in their communities.

This practice tool considers how practitioners can explore and write about identity with children and young people. It gives a short introduction to some useful concepts about identity for social care practitioners and provides guidance about how practitioners could support children’s identity development. It also includes a set of practical tips and tools to use to explore children’s identities with them.

This WHO-UNICEF Global Report on children with developmental disabilities provides principles and approaches  to intentionally include the needs and aspirations of children and young people with developmental disabilities in policy, programming and public health monitoring.

This article will present the evolution of alternative care provision in the Maldives.

This resource is aimed at supporting front-line practitioners in Australia to have a working knowledge of the historical and contemporary context of social welfare policies and their impact on First Nations families and to use this knowledge as a starting point to build an awareness of how individual and systemic practices impact First Nations young people and families.

The study's main themes were establishing the need for residential homes for children (RHCs), RHCs not being an ideal family environment and RHCs as respite. Family marital problems, poor financial situation, stigma attached to some children in care, abusive parents and a lack of suitable alternatives when families have a crisis were identified as key factors that impede DI implementation in Ghana.

This case story is meant to illustrate the transition process of Good Life orphanage, a charitable children’s institution based in Kilifi County, Kenya, the actors involved, the challenges and the success factors; recognizing that each transition is an individual process with different starting p

This case story is meant to illustrate transition process of Majaoni Rescuers, a community-based organization (CBO) in Mombasa County, Kenya, the actors involved, the challenges and the success factors; recognizing that each transition is an individual process with different starting points, different dynamics and different evolutions.

These illustrations from Changing the Way We Care and the Government of Kenya showcase live community engagement sessions on how to develop Kafaalah messages and promote Kafaalah for family-based care.

This handbook is a summarized, user-friendly version of the operating procedures for alternative family- and community-based care options. It provides an overview of each type of care, key considerations, and the process followed for placement. The handbook aims to provide an easy and quick reference to critical information and “how to” about alternative family- and community-based care placements.

This data collection exercise was commissioned to assess the different types of Kafaalah care arrangements practiced by families and communities in Kilifi, Kenya. It affirms that Kafaalah is a widely known and practiced form of care among the Muslim community in Kilifi County.

This guide framework describes how CTWWC employs its family strengthening approach.

Changing the Way We Care (CTWWC) promotes safe, nurturing family care for children reintegrating from residential care facilities (often referred to as “orphanages”) and prevents child-family separation by strengthening families, reforming national systems of care for children, and working to shift donor and volunteer support away from residential care and toward family care alternatives.

În perioada ianuarie - iunie 2023, Asociația de Suport Familial de Recuperare Timpurie a Copiilor cu Deficiențe de Auz și Văz ”AudiViz” a realizat un studiu care a avut scopul de a analiza perceptia parintilor și a copiilor/tinerilor cu dizabilitate de auz privind calitatea vietii lor, a serviciilor oferite de autoritățile publice și dacă acestea răspund nevoilor lor sau contribuie la sprijinirea familiei, la reabilitarea şi integrarea socială, educațională.

În perioada ianuarie - iunie 2023, Asociația de Suport Familial de Recuperare Timpurie a Copiilor cu Deficiențe de Auz și Văz ”AudiViz” a realizat un studiu care a avut scopul de a analiza perceptia parintilor și a copiilor/tinerilor cu dizabilitate de auz privind calitatea vietii lor, a serviciilor oferite de autoritățile publice și dacă acestea răspund nevoilor lor sau contribuie la sprijinirea familiei, la reabilitarea şi integrarea socială, educațională.

Caregivers are at the heart of family-centered care reform efforts. They are the critical link to ensuring that those who need care get it in a way that allows them to thrive. Changing the Way We Care Moldova’s partner, AudiViz, recognizes that caregivers have a wealth of experience that could be harnessed and shared among each other and the larger community.

Resumen Ejecutivo:

The Interagency Forum of Diagnosis and Dialogue “Together for the Harmony of the System in favor of children and adolescents” was held as an update of the Cross-government Review of the system and processes for the protection of children separated from their families or at risk of being so in Paraguay, bringing together the key actors of the system in 3 intensive work days to provide the State a roadmap with efficient and achievable solutions and improvements, which seek to optimize the protection system throughout the country in application of the law, with the CHILD as the only center.

National Plan of Action on Alternative Care for Children Phase 1 (2022 - 2026) has been prepared to provide the direction of alternative care operations in Thailand that reflects the spirit of practices on alternative care for children in 5 areas:

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This new study reveals that over 120,000 children in Thailand are living in institutional settings, mostly due to poverty and limited access to education. 90% have at least one living parent. Although institutional care may be appropriate in emergencies, it is often overly misused and can affect children’s emotional, cognitive and mental development.  More than 50% of private “orphanages” are unregistered and unregulated.

This essay examines how child abuse and violence that occurred in the past have been conceptualised in one current redress process in an established democracy – the Swedish redress initiatives for historical abuse of children in out-of-home care.

This literature review captures the perceptions and priorities of children and young people globally on climate change and its impact on their physical and mental health. The report summarises the voices and perspectives of almost 100,000 CYP from across the world.

This book addresses the psychosocial complexities of adoption from multiple perspectives, including the biological family, adopted child, and adoptive parents. It highlights the must-have sensitivity and tactfulness for recurring discussions of the adoption situation.

This U.S.-based study analyzes data from a statewide kinship caregiver survey which collected demographic data, challenges, and needs.

This article presents novel findings from interviews with 17 girls and young women and eight Youth Offending Team (YOT) staff, highlighting how being in care in the U.S. can affect offending behaviour and how YOTs may provide support to care-experienced girls who have been inadequately supported elsewhere.

This study examines how multiple factors from foster caregivers’ surrounding environments impact satisfaction and retention among 462 foster caregivers in the United States.

This chapter summarizes results of a study of high service use, or “superutilization,” among children in foster care in the U.S. The study linked administrative data from child welfare, Medicaid, and other services for two sites.

This article offers a cross-national comparison of social work in two countries, Australia and Canada, about the care of Indigenous children within the context of colonization and the evolving profession.

This paper intends to capture the landscape of alternative care and its evolution in India, drawing from the review of the legal and policy framework, existing literature, and detailed discussions with Civil Society Organisations(CSOs) and State functionaries.

This article highlights the continuity of overrepresentation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, and systemic racism, in the Australian child protection and out-of-home care systems over time.

This article explores the challenges of child and youth care workers (CYCWs) working with children in South Africa.

This study examined the extent to which Nigeria’s current disability and childhood policies have integrated the CRC and the CRPD frameworks. Using a structured search of databases and Nigerian federal and state government websites, we conducted a policy review to identify their disability and child-related disability policies.

Los daños medioambientales son una amenaza importante para los derechos de la infancia en todo el mundo. Los niños y las niñas exigen que se tomen medidas inmediatas y que se protejan sus derechos.

Cette Observation générale explique pourquoi il est urgent d'agir en faveur de l'environnement et du climat et ce que les gouvernements doivent faire pour protéger tous les droits des enfants. Elle précise également que les gouvernements doivent protéger les droits des enfants d'aujourd'hui et ceux des générations futures.

In this general comment, the Committee emphasizes the urgent need to address the adverse effects of environmental degradation, with a special focus on climate change, on the enjoyment of children’s rights, and clarifies the obligations of States to address environmental harm and climate change.

Tiegan Boyens, of ATD Fourth World and Teen Advocacy, shares about the importance of staying connected to birth family as an adoptee as well as maintaining other connections such as friendships made throughout childhood. 

The OHCHR submitted the first-ever child-friendly report, conducted with over 600+ child participants worldwide. The premise of this report is based on children's right to social support. Most children cannot access social aid and protection and, therefore, cannot access their other rights.

This longitudinal study aims at investigating the attachment disorder symptoms during the first year of placement in foster care. The participants
were recruited through German social services departments around Dortmund, the Ruhr valley, and the Metropolitan region of Nuremberg.

This paper explores why the right to leave marriage matters, describes the obstacles to girls’ access to divorce and to protections after divorce or separation, and links these to the factors that drive child, early, and forced marriages and unions. The authors reviewed reports and evidence from countries in all regions of the world by drawing on a previous systematic scoping review and related research done by the authors.

Drawing on the findings of a qualitative study undertaken in the state of New South Wales (NSW), Australia, this article applies the concept of ambiguous loss to outline the ways in which Out of Home Care practitioners can more adequately respond to children's experience of grief and loss.

In this article, the focus is on youth with minority backgrounds living in majority foster homes and their views on cultural continuity. What is important for these young people when developing their identity in foster homes? The study is based on qualitative interviews with nine adolescents from minority
backgrounds who live in majority foster homes, which are homes in which one or both foster parents have ethnic Norwegian backgrounds. The analysis was conducted using a hermeneutic phenomenology methodology and shows that youth do not necessarily want cultural continuity in the sense of living in a culturally “matched” foster home.

The purpose of the article is to describe and problematise the practice initiated idea of developing a digital tool for children in child welfare investigations and whether and how this welfare technology is useful for social workers. The results include interview data and descriptions of the research process.

This qualitative study explores the prevalence and role of natural mentors in the lives of unaccompanied immigrant youth residing in the Barcelona Metropolitan Area. The authors' findings suggest that natural mentors provide various types of social support and social capital, which fulfil the emotional or educational needs of young people.

This research article explores the situation of children in alternative or institutional care in Pakistan, aiming to shed light on the challenges they face, interventions implemented to address their needs, and the associated laws and policy implications.