Child Welfare Policies, Services And Their Aptitude For Care And Protection Of Vulnerable Children And Their Families

Project EDU-CARE, Department of Social Work at St. Xavier's College

The Technical Team under the Project “EDU-CARE: Social Operators Active in the Protection of the Children and in the Promotion of the Children’s Rights in Nepal” reports on the child care practices, policies, and programs currently in effect in the country.

File

Orphans and Economics

The Lost Daughters - Aselefech Evans

This piece, written by Aselefech Evans, a woman adopted from Ethiopia when she was five years old, addresses the issue of family preservation and international adoption.

Does Family Matter? The Well-Being of Children Growing Up in Institutions, Foster Care and Adoption

Christie Schoenmaker, Femmie Juffer, Marinus H. van IJzendoorn, and Marian J. Bakermans-Kranenburg - In A. Ben-Arieh et al. (eds.), Handbook of Child Well-Being, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

In this chapter of the Handbook of Child Well-Being, the authors review the findings from research on the cognitive and social-emotional development of children growing up in institutions, foster care and adoption.

An Exploration of the Differential Usage of Residential Childcare Across National Boundaries

Frank Ainsworth and June Thoburn, International Journal of Social Welfare 2014: 23: 16–24

This article reviews some of the language and conceptual issues that need to be addressed to be able to meaningfully compare differential usage of residential childcare services across national boundaries. 

Contextual Adaptation of Family Group Conferencing Model: Early Evidence from Guatemala

Jini L. Roby, Joan Pennell, Karen Rotabi, Kelley McCreery Bunkers, and Sully de Ucles, British Journal of Social Work (2014) 1–17

This article discusses the challenges in protecting Guatemalan children and their families from involuntary separation and presents the process, results and implications of a pilot training in which Guatemalan participants from government and civil society explored the efficacy and feasibility of the FGC model in their country.

Children, Orphanages, and Families: a Summary of Research to Help Guide Faith-based Action

Kelley Bunkers, Amanda Cox, Sarah Gesiriech, and Kerry Olson, Faith to Action Initiative

This Summary of Research provides a concise overview of a range of studies and findings that can inform approaches to caring for children who, through orphanhood, abandonment, or other causes, have been separated from parental care.

File

World Family Map 2014: Mapping Family Change and Child Well-being Outcomes

Child Trends, Doha International Family Institute, Institute for Family Studies, Focus Global, and the Social Trends Institute

The second annual edition of the World Family Map investigates how family characteristics affect children’s healthy development around the globe and includes a new essay focusing on union stability and early childhood health in developing countries.

File

Without Dreams: Children in Alternative Care in Japan

Human Rights Watch

This report by Human Rights Watch examines Japan’s alternative care system for children. It describes its organization and processes, presents current data on the use of different forms of alternative care and highlights the problems found in the institutionalization of most children (including infants), as well as abuses that take place in the system.

File

Inter-Agency Statement on the 2014 United Nations General Assembly Resolution on the Rights of the Child

New York and Geneva Working Groups on Children Without parental Care

A coalition of over 40 international, regional and national NGOs and networks have issued a joint call to member States of the United Nations General Assembly (UN GA) to focus the 2014 Resolution on the Rights of the Child on strengthening family care and providing appropriate alternative care for children.

File

How the Republic of Georgia has Nearly Eliminated the Use of Institutional Care for Children

Aaron Luis Greenberg and Natia Partskhaladze

The Infant Mental Health Journal has published an important Special Issue on Global Research, Practice, and Policy Issues in the Care of Infants and Young Children at Risk. This article documents how between 2005 and 2013, the Government in the Republic of Georgia closed 32 large, state-run institutions housing children without adequate family care.

From Institutional Care to Family Support: Development of an Effective Early Intervention Network in the Nizhny Novgorod Region, Russian Federation

Dana E. Johnson, Svyatoslav V. Dovbnya, Tatiana U. Morozova, Melinda A. Richards and Julia G. Bogdanova

Infant Mental Health Journal has published an important Special Issue on Global Research, Practice, and Policy Issues in the Care of Infants and Young Children at Risk. This article documents an initiative to establish a replicable professional model that would direct the child welfare system in the Nizhny Novgorod Region away from institutional care and toward services for young children and their families that reduce the risk of institutionalization. 

Adoption Policy and Evidence-Based Domestic Adoption Practice: A Comparison of Romania, Ukraine, India, Guatemala, and Ethiopia

Victor Groza and Kelley M. Bunkers - Infant Mental Health Journal

This article uses data collected from adoptive parents’ postadoption and governmental data in Romania, Ukraine, India, Guatemala, and Ethiopia to focus on domestic adoption in each of these countries. The article highlights both promising practices in domestic adoption as well as policies and practices that require additional research.

Effects of an Intervention to Promote Socioemotional Development in Terms of Attachment Security: A Study In Early Institutionalization in Chile

Felipe Lecannelier, Jaime R. Silva, Marianela Hoffmann, Rolando Melo and Raquel Morales

Infant Mental Health Journal has published an important Special Issue on Global Research, Practice, and Policy Issues in the Care of Infants and Young Children at Risk. This article reports on a quasi-experimental study commissioned by the Chilean government that had two general aims: (a) to assess infants’ psychoaffective developmental levels and (b) to evaluate whether an intervention based on the promotion of socioemotional development modifies the infant's psychoaffective development. 

Residential Care for Abandoned Children and their Integration into a Family-Based Setting in Uganda: Lessons for Policy and Programming

Eddy J. Walakira, Eric A. Ochen, Paul Bukuluki and Sue Alllan

Infant Mental Health Journal has published an important Special Issue on Global Research, Practice, and Policy Issues in the Care of Infants and Young Children at Risk. This article describes a model of care for abandoned and neglected infants in need of urgent physical, social, and medical support as implemented by the Child's i Foundation, an international, nongovernmental organization operating in Uganda. 

From Maid to Mother: Transforming Facilities, Staff Training, and Caregiver Dignity in an Institutional Facility for Young Children in Nepal

Amy Conley Wright, Dhirendra Lamsal, Mukunda Ksetree, Aalok Sharma and Kenneth Jaffe

Infant Mental Health Journal has published an important Special Issue on Global Research, Practice, and Policy Issues in the Care of Infants and Young Children at Risk. This article provides a case study of a project to improve the health, safety, and development of children birth to 6 years old in a large orphanage in Nepal.

Psychopathology in Young Children in Two Types of Foster Care Following Institutional Rearing (Romania)

Florin Tibu, Kathryn L. Humphreys, Nathan A. Fox, Charles A. Nelson and Charles H. Zeanah

Infant Mental Health Journal has published an important Special Issue on Global Research, Practice, and Policy Issues in the Care of Infants and Young Children at Risk. In this study the authors assessed internalizing disorders, externalizing disorders, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in 54-month-old children living with foster families in Bucharest, Romania.

Behavior Problems in Children Transferred from a Socioemotionally Depriving Institution to St. Petersburg (Russian Federation) Families

Rifkat J. Muhamedrahimov, Varvara V. Agarkova, Elena A. Vershnina, Oleg I. Palmov, Natalia V. Nikiforova, Robert B. McCall and Christina J. Groark

Infant Mental Health Journal has published an important Special Issue on Global Research, Practice, and Policy Issues in the Care of Infants and Young Children at Risk. In this article, behavior problems were studied in fifty 5- to 8-year-old children transferred from a socioemotionally depriving Russian institution to domestic families. 

Maltreatment and Mental Health in Institutional Care—Comparing Early and Late Institutionalized Children in Tanzania

Katharin Hermenau, Tobias Hecker, Thomas Elbert and Martina Ruf-Leuschner

Infant Mental Health Journal has published an important Special Issue on Global Research, Practice, and Policy Issues in the Care of Infants and Young Children at Risk. This article describes the adverse mental health effects of violence and abuse in an institution in Tanzania.

Growth, Nutritional, and Developmental Status of Young Children Living in Orphanages in Kazakhstan

Mary O. Hearst, John H. Himes, The Spoon Foundation, Dana E. Johnson, Maria Kroupina, Aigul Syzdykova, Musa Aidjanov and T. Sharmonov

This article provide one of the most comprehensive assessments of physical growth, biological markers of growth and nutrition, and general behavioral development, in this case conducted on 286 children under 3 years of age living in 10 institutions in Kazakhstan that were globally deficient.

Global Research, Practice, and Policy Issues on the Care of Infants and Young Children at Risk: The Articles in Context

Robert B. McCall, Christina J. Groark and Niels P. Rygaard

This introductory article of a Special Issue of Infant Mental Health Journal  on Global Research, Practice, and Policy Issues in the Care of Infants and Young Children at Risk provides a useful overview, placing the articles in the broader contexts of research on institutionalized children and different initiatives to prevent inappropriate care, either through addressing the quality of the care provided or ensuring the appropriateness of the type of care environment provided. 

Drumming Together for Change: A Child’s Right to Quality Care in Sub-Saharan Africa

SOS Children’s Villages, Centre for Excellence for Looked After Children in Scotland, University of Malawi

This report is based on a synthesis of eight assessments of the implementation of the Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children (“the Guidelines”) in Benin, Gambia, Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Togo, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Conclusions and Recommendations from the Cross Regional Meeting for Advancing the Protection of Children from Violence

Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on Violence against Children

Special Representative of the Secretary General on Violence Against Children, (SRSG on VAC), Marta Santos Pais, promoted a Cross-Regional Round Table on the prevention of violence in early childhood with representatives from several regional organisations.

File

Call to Action to end the placement of children under the age of three in residential care endorsed at 35th CARICOM Heads of Government conference

UNICEF

The Heads of State of the Caribbean region endorsed the Call to Action to end the placement of children under three years of age in residential care institutions at the 35th CARICOM conference.

Alternative Care Briefing of the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child

Better Care Network (BCN), International Social Service (ISS), Save the Children, and SOS Children's Villages

This presentation, produced by Better Care Network (BCN), International Social Service (ISS), Save the Children, and SOS Children's Villages, was given at a 2014 briefing of the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC). The objectives of the Alternative Care Briefing were to increase the understanding of and recommendations on the implementation of the Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children when reviewing State Party Reports and drafting general recommendations and to create opportunities to promote the Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children in its 5th anniversary.

File

General Comment on Article 30 of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child

African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child

The African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC) held its twenty-second Ordinary Session from 4-8 November 2013 and issued its first General Comment on the African Charter regarding the rights and welfare of children of incarcerated and imprisoned parents and primary caregivers.

File

Why Care Matters: The importance of adequate care for children and society

Family For Every Child, Corinna Csaky

This report highlights the needs of children without adequate family care, the impact inadequate care on children and society, and why family care is important. In this report, Family for Every Child also issues several recommendations for those in all sectors of society and an example of care reform from Brazil. 

File

Researching the Linkages Between Social Protection and Children’s Care in Rwanda: The VUP and Its Effects on Child Wellbeing, Care, and Family Reunification

Keetie Roelen & Helen Shelmerdine from the Centre for Social Protection (CSP) with support from Emily Delap from Family for Every Child and Stephen Devereux from the CSP at IDS.

This report features the results of, and recommendations based on, a study conducted in Rwanda which investigates the links between the cash transfer program “Vision 2020 Umurenge Programme (VUP),” child well-being, and children’s care and family reunification.

File

Country Care Review: Azerbaijan

This country care review includes the care related Concluding Observations adopted by the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities as part of its examination of the first periodic report of Azerbaijan under Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities at its 125th and 126th meetings, held on 1 and 2 April 2014, respectively.

File

Country Care Review: Israel

Better Care Network

This country care review includes the care related Concluding Observations adopted by the Committee on the Rights of the Child as part of its examination during the sixty-third session (27 May-14 June 2013) of Israel’s second to fourth periodic reports to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, as well as other care-related concluding observations, ratification dates, and links to the Universal Periodic Review and Hague Intercountry Adoption Country Profile.

File

Country Care Review: Armenia

Better Care Network

This country care review includes the care-related Concluding Observations adopted by the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities during the seventeenth session (20 March 2017 - 12 April 2017) of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

File

Country Care Review: Guinea Bissau

Better Care Network

This country care review includes the care related Concluding Observations adopted by the Committee on the Rights of the Child as part of its examination during the sixty-third session (27 May-14 June 2013) of Guinea Bissau’s second through fourth periodic reports to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, as well as other care-related concluding observations, ratification dates, and links to the Universal Periodic Review and Hague Intercountry Adoption Country Profile.

File

The Future Begins in the Family

Partnerships for Every Child in collaboration with the Ministry of Labour, Social Protection, and Family and the Ministry of Education

This issue No. 3-4 is one in a newsletter series concerning care reform in Moldova. The magazine was produced by Partnerships for Every Child (P4EC), an NGO in Moldova, with funding from the project, “Protecting children in Moldova from family separation, violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation.”

File

Azerbaijan: Educational reform and prevention of vulnerability

Gwendolyn Burchell, Centre for Social Policy Development,

This paper presents an examination of the linkages between education and the deinstitutionalization of children in Azerbaijan. The paper explores the role of education in social policy and its interplay with economic policy; underlines the links needed between deinstitutionalization, inclusive education and alternative services; and examines how child protection can be understood in the context of inter-Ministerial responsibilities and coordination.

File

Social Transfers and Child Protection

Armando Barrientos, Jasmina Byrne, Juan Miguel Villa, Paola Peña

This study, published by the UNICEF Office of Research and Brooks World Poverty Institute, examines the direct, indirect, and implementation impacts of social transfers on child protection outcomes in low- and middle-income countries. The paper discusses the ways in which social transfers can promote the welfare of children by preventing violence, abuse, and exploitation of children and offers recommendations for future research, programming, and practice.

File