The fostering system in England: Evidence review

Mary Baginsky, Sarah Gorin and Claire Sands - Quest Research and Evaluation Ltd, England Department for Education (Publisher)

Commissioned by England's Department for Education, this review of the fostering system in England provides a look into the details of the foster care system, how it functions and how children in care are impacted by it, and identifies gaps and areas for improvement. 

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Child Rights in the Global Compacts: Recommendations for protecting, promoting and implementing the human rights of children on the move in the proposed Global Compacts

Jacqueline Bhabha and Mike Dottridge - Initiative for Child Rights in the Global Compacts

This working document by the Initiative for Child Rights in the Global Compacts, a multilateral initiative supported by 26 organizations, provides goals, targets and indicators with respect to six priority issues involving refugee and migrant children. 

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Young People’s Voice: The First Visiting Advocacy Project in Italian Residential Care for Children

Valentina Calcaterra & Maria Luisa Raineri - Department of Sociology, Catholic University of Milan

This article presents the research of the project "Giving Young People a Voice: Advocacy in Children’s Homes," which evaluated the implementation of a visiting advocacy project and services provided by an independent advocate working in children's homes in Italy.  

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Radical practice in a risk-averse environment: Learning from ATD Fourth World UK

Hannah Blumhardt, ATD Fourth World UK, and Anna Gupta - Aotearoa New Zealand Social Work

This report examines and shares learnings from ATD Fourth World UK's social work practice framework with families experiencing poverty, discussing its strengths-based collaborative approach to build relationships and reduce power imbalances between practitioners and families. Implications for the feasibility of implementing this framework in child protection social work practice and policy in Aotearoa New Zealand is also addressed. 

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Taking culture seriously: Can we improve the developmental health and well-being of Australian Aboriginal children in out-of-home care?

S. Raman, S. Ruston, S. Irwin, P. Tran, P. Hotton & S. Thorne - Child: Care, Health and Development

This study sought to identify child, carer, and intervention characteristics that contribute to child wellbeing for Aboriginal children in out-of-home care in Australia. The article also identifies enablers and barriers to providing trauma-informed and culturally competent care to Aboriginal children. 

The Mental Health and Help-Seeking Behaviour of Children and Young People in Care in Northern Ireland: Making Services Accessible and Engaging

Montserrat Fargas-Malet & Dominic McSherry - The British Journal of Social Work

This article presents the findings from the Mind Your Health study conducted in Northern Ireland, which analyzes the experiences of young people in care and their carers in accessing and engaging in mental health services. 

Smuggled and Trafficked Unaccompanied Minors: Towards a Coherent, Protection-Based Approach in International Law

Joseph Lelliott - International Journal of Refugee Law

This article explores the protection of smuggled and trafficked unaccompanied minors under the United Nations Protocols against the Smuggling of Migrants and Trafficking in Persons and calls for a more substantive protection-based framework to address the issue. 

EEG Correlation during Social Decision-making in Institutionalized Adolescents

Jorge Hevia-Orozco, Araceli Sanz-Martin, Miguel Angel Guevara and Marisela Hernández-Gonzalez - Abnormal & Behavioral Psychology

This study investigated and compared electroencephalogram (EEG) functioning between a group of institutionalized adolescents and a never institutionalized group of adolescents during a social decision making task. 

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Rescue, red tape, child abduction, illicit adoptions, and discourse: Intercountry adoption attitudes in Spain

Beatriz San Román & Karen S Rotabi - International Social Work

This study investigated how adoptive and prospective adoptive parents in Spain deal with signs of fraud and corruption within the intercountry adoption process, illuminating the dismissal of the systemic failures of intercountry adoption and the rights of birth families. 

Educational Support for Orphaned Children: What Can We Learn from the African Extended Family Structure?

Kholofelo Charlotte Motha - Children & Society

This paper is based on the findings from a qualitative study with orphaned children in South Africa, their teachers and caregivers, which investigated the capacity of extended families affected by poverty and HIV/AIDS to care for and support orphaned children. 

The mechanisms of protection factors in operation in the case of teenagers living in Romanian placement centres

Ovidiu Bunea, Ancuta Bojian, Daniela Cojocaru - Revista de cercetare şi intervenţie socială

The aim of this study was to identify the processes that support the good results obtained by the teenagers and young persons who reside in the largest residential centre in the county of Iași, Romania and their concerns regarding the future.  

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Ley Nacional Argentina 27.364: Programa de Acompañamiento para el Egreso de Adolescentes y Jóvenes sin Cuidados Parentales

El Senado y Cámara de Diputados de la Nación Argentina - Doncel

El Senado y Cámara de Diputados de la Nación Argentina reunidos en Congreso, etc. sancionan con fuerza de Ley: Programa de Acompañamiento para el Egreso de Jóvenes sin Cuidados Parentales. 

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Child and family-related predictors of psychological outcomes in children adopted from abroad; what is the role of caregiver time?

Niina Rita, Marko Elovainio, Hanna Raaska, Pekka Lahti-Nuuttila, Jaakko Matomäki, Jari Sinkkonen, Helena Lapinleimu - Scandinavian Journal of Psychology

This study explores whether child and family-related factors are associated with later psychological problems in international adoptees in Finland. Researchers then investigated whether the length of time a child spends at home after adoption and before daycare moderates the aforementioned associations. 

Livelihoods in child headed households and state intervention: a case study of the orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) in East London, South Africa

Unathi Ngconjana, Alice Stella Kwizera, Ikechukwu Umejesi - Gender and Behaviour

This study assesses the impact of of official government intervention programmes in managing child vulnerability and Child Headed Households (CHHs) in South Africa. 

Early Childhood Care and Development Policy

Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs

This policy document replaces various uncoordinated, sector-biased programmes developed and implemented by the Ministry of Education Youth and Sports, Ministry for Employment and Manpower Development, the Ministry of Health and, the Ghana National Commission on children and other Stakeholders. 

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Community-Centered Integrated Services for Orphans and Vulnerable Children in Rwanda

Agnès Binagwaho, Julia Noguchi, Marie-Noëlle Senyana-Mottier, Mary C. Smith Fawzi - JOINT LEARNING INITIATIVE ON CHILDREN AND HIV/AIDS

The overall goal of this case study is to provide in sufficient detail the process that follows from initial ideas/ vision, government policy development, the creation of national strategic plan of action, local (district-level) program and work plan development, and ultimately program implementation, including monitoring and evaluation (M&E).

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Baseline Study: Children's Perceptions of Child Protection Measures Existing at Community Level in Rwanda

Enrico Rampazzo and Alfred Twahirwa - Save the Children

This participatory baseline is part of a multi-country study commissioned by Save the Children targeting selected areas of Rwanda, Ethiopia and North-Sudan. The purpose of the multi-country study is to address the UN Study on Violence Against Children’s recommendations and assess the role of communities in ensuring that children are protected from violence and abuse at all levels. 

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Report of the International Year of the Family +20 Regional Experts Meeting

PAN (in partnership with ICS, Africa Fatherhood Initiative, SOS Children's Villages Kenya)

This is a report of the proceedings of PAN’s contributions to the 20th Anniversary of the International Year of the Family (and the 10th anniversary of the Plan of Action - PoA - on the family in Africa) through a Regional Experts meeting whose theme was dubbed “Restoring families as the Pillar of Development in Africa”. 

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Counting Children Outside of Family Care: Children in Orphanages and Other Institutions

Florence Martin - Better Care Network

This presentation, delivered by Better Care Network Director Florence Martin at the 18-19 July #ChildrenCount17 conference, demonstrates the need for comprehensive national data systems, as well as what kind of data should be collected, barriers to thorough data collection, and examples of strong national-level efforts to collect comprehensive data on children living outside of family care. 

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Ending the criminalisation of children in residential care: Briefing one

The Howard League

This briefing the first in a series describing a programme of the Howard League for Penal Reform, which is intended to clarify why so many children in residential care in England and Wales are being criminalised at higher rates than their peers and identify examples of best practice to prevent their unnecessary criminalisation. 

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Feasibility and efficacy of an attachment-based intervention in a maltreatment sample in residential care: A pilot study

Marta Casonato, Sarah Nazzari, Alessandra Frigerio - Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry

This study measured the effectiveness of a Positive Parenting and Sensitive Discipline program for mothers and their 10- to 36-month-old children placed in parental residential care. 

Monthly data collection on the migration situation in the EU: July 2017

European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA)

This report from the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) provides data on migration throughout the EU from 1-30 June 2017. The report includes data on the child protection situation for migrant children, particularly the identification, emergency placement and accommodation of unaccompanied children. 

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Improving the effectiveness of the child protection system: Overview

Donna Molloy, Steve Barton and Lucy Brims - Early Intervention Foundation

This overview report provides a summary of key findings and lessons from five detailed research papers investigating what has proven to improve outcomes for children in the child protection system, what programs and services are delivered locally in the child protection system, and what is known about the overall effectiveness of the child protection system. 

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Practical guide to foster community acceptance of girls associated with armed groups in DR Congo

Marie de la Soudière - Child Soldiers International

This guide is presented as a “toolbox” to help DDR actors respond to the needs of girls formerly associated with armed groups in eastern DRC, and to overcome the many obstacles to their release and reintegration, reported by some of the girls themselves.

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What the girls say: Improving practices for the demobilisation and reintegration of girls associated with armed forces and armed groups in Democratic Republic of Congo

Marie de la Soudière - Child Soldiers International

This report presents the findings of research conducted by Child Soldiers International to assess the effectiveness of release, psychosocial recovery and reintegration interventions for girls associated with armed groups in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). 

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A survival analysis of the length of foster parenting duration and implications for recruitment and retention of foster parents

Haksoon Ahn, Elizabeth J. Greeno, Charlotte Lyn Bright, Samantha Hartzel, & Sarah Reiman - Children and Youth Services Review

This study sought to examine the factors associated with the length of foster parenting duration. Study results will contribute to developing implications for successful recruitment and retention policies and practices for foster parents.

Opportunities for Strengthening Families Through Positive Discipline: Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (KAP) Study

PAN & Save the Children International

This study intended to develop data regarding how families parent and nurture good behaviour in their children; whether they know what would constitute nonviolent (positive) discipline; and if they actually utilized the positive aspects of disciplining. The study was conducted in specific areas (study clusters) in Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia and Rwanda. 

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