This paper, produced by RELAF, is part of a series of publications on children without parental care in Latin America: Contexts, causes and answers. This document, and others in the series, pertains to the broad topic of children without parental care and examines the particular situation of institutionalised children.

The main aims of this assessment were to identify and address problems in both the domestic and intercountry adoption processes, with a view to assisting Viet Nam in its preparations to accede to the 1993 Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption (THC-93); and to review the new draft law on adoption, and propose any amendments that may appear necessary to ensure compliance with international standards and good practice.

The 2013 KIDS COUNT Data Book provides a detailed picture of how children are faring in the United States. In addition to ranking states on overall child well-being, the Data Book ranks states in four domains: Economic Well-Being, Education, Health, and Family and Community.

General Comment 14, issued by the Committee on the Rights of the Child, refers to article 3, paragraph 1, of the Convention on the Rights of the Child that asserts the right of the child to have his or her best interests taken as primary consideration in all actions or decisions that concern him or her (in both the public and private spheres).

The USA-based National Child Traumatic Stress Network has recently released a second edition of the Child Welfare Trauma Training Toolkit, which is part of the Child Welfare Trauma Training course. The course assists those in the field of child welfare who wish to learn more about child welfare and trauma.

This paper provides details of research into the gatekeeping system in Bulgaria for children under three and examples from recent Bulgarian and international practice. It suggests that gatekeeping could benefit from a social development orientation including activities to combat poverty and promote social inclusion through supporting community and family strengths.

This paper presents a comprehensive literature review of evidence-based parenting programs from around the world. The report reviews published literature from 2000 to 2012 and summarizes empirically based recommendations for supporting and strengthening child-caregiver relationships in the context of AIDS and poverty.

Following three previous initiatives – the Road to Toronto, the Road to Vienna, and the Road to Washington, The Coalition for Children Affected by AIDS, with the cooperation and support of other UNICEF, UNAIDS and organizations, led the Road to Melbourne meeting in New York on May 30-31, 2013. The objective of the meeting was to influence funder and policy-maker priorities, and country-level practice for children affected by AIDS and their families.

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.

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.

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.

This article describes the historical background and current situation of the child welfare system for children without parental care in Poland.

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.”

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.

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.

Oxford Policy Management has conducted two rounds of qualitative evaluations of three poverty-reduction and human development programmes run by the BOTA Foundation in Kazakhstan: the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) Programme, the Social Services Programme and the Tuition Assistance Programme. Each report produced by Oxford Policy Management includes a description of the methodology and results of the fieldwork as well as conclusions and recommendations.

The UN Commission for Social Development (CSocD) held its 52nd session in New York on the 11-21 February 2014. As part of its mandate, it held discussions in observance of the 20th Anniversary of the International Year of the Family and drafted a resolution to be adopted by the UN Economic and Social Council.

This moving short film (7 mins) produced by MenCare examines the circumstance of one man who found himself as the primary caregiver to his children when his female partner moved abroad for work.

The discussion paper provides an overview of existing definitions of formal care within the UN Guidelines and a summary of the basic characteristics identified for each, together with explanations for the proposed characteristics.

This policy brief reviews the legal framework for foster care in India, including an analysis of the current provisions of foster care along with the rules and schemes on foster care framed by states in India, with a focus on Delhi and Goa.

A report by Save the Children examining the role and extent of kinship care in West Central Africa, as well as looking into program and policy implications and gaps in advocacy.

This Kinship Care Album was produced as part of a regional participatory research initiative undertaken by Save the Children to build knowledge on endogenous care practices within families and communities, especially informal kinship care. The Album is a compilation of documentation by children who participated in the research, including resource maps, body maps, photos of focus group discussions and observations by child researchers, pictures and letters from children highlighting their experiences of living in kinship care, their views and recommendations about life in kinship care.

This paper discusses the challenges of reforming the child welfare and protection systems in Hungary and Romania -two countries in transition from socialism to capitalism- and the impact on children, young people, families, and professionals. The focus is on the efforts made to deinstitutionalise children from large institutions, develop local prevention services, and develop alternatives to institutional care.

The article reviews the historical development of out-of-home care in Italy and Spain and compares foster family and residential care, as well as the main research contributions to these topics in both countries.

This article focuses on the structural similarities and dissimilarities that exist between child protection systems in France and Switzerland, as exemplified by the evolutions of the last decade.

This article reviews the history and development of out-of-home care services in Germany and the Netherlands comparing trends and numbers.

This article provides an overview of the current situation in the out-of-home care in Norway and Sweden. Development in later years is described and discussed, including the trends towards privatization of the welfare system in both countries and the role of private, commercial actors within the care sector including out-of-home care for children and young people.

There has been a significant growth in the use of formal kinship care in the UK and Ireland in the last 20 years. The paper charts some of the reasons for the 'organic growth' of kinship care and the multiple dynamics that have shaped this.

This article provides an outline of the early development of care and protection in Australia and New Zealand as a backdrop to an overview of child protection systems and policies and the current child protection profile in both countries. An overview of trends in relation to out of home care, including routes into care, care arrangements and permanency policies is provided.

This paper provides overview of the US and Canada in-care system, noting certain differences and similarities between the two systems. Estimates of the number of children in care in Canada and data on children in the US foster care systems is also provided.

This article closes a special edition focused on the state of child protection in 16 countries chosen to represent very different cultural contexts, historical backgrounds, and social welfare systems with special attention to out-of-home care placements, principally family foster care and residential care, though several aspects related to adoption were included as well.

The objective of this study was to investigate which model of care and support is more appropriate for improving psychosocial and economic security of AIDS orphans in Nepal.

For this study conducted in and near Kampala, Uganda, 518 youth (8 to 18 years old) and their caregivers were interviewed individually, examining the association between relatedness and perceived food and work equity, and school attendance.

This powerful chart illustrates preliminary research findings using data from Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) in 5 African countries (Malawi, Mozambique, Niger, Uganda and Zimbabwe) to better understand how orphan status affects the school attendance of children in Africa and the extent to which living in kinship care can act as a protective factor in this context.

This systematic review published by the Campbell Collaboration reviewed controlled experimental and quasi experimental studies in which children removed from the home for maltreatment and subsequently placed in kinship care were compared with children placed in non-kinship foster care for child welfare outcomes in the domains of well-being, permanency, or safety.

This Handbook aims to provide guidance for Save the Children staff, NGO partners, Community Child Protection Groups and community volunteers in Myanmar in protecting the welfare of children living with extended family members.

This comprehensive policy report by the Annie E. Casey Foundation summarizes what is known about kinship care in the United States, identifies the problems and issues these families face, and recommends how best to support caregivers as they step up to take responsibility for children in their extended families and communities.

This position statement by Save the Children highlights the central place of families in numerous international legal instruments and how the concept has been understood. It also clarifies its own understanding of families and reviews key provisions under international law regarding their crucial role and responsibilities, and that of States towards them.

This important report documents a 22-month longitudinal study of the reintegration of children in residential care in Moldova.

This webinar presentation by Professor Marie Connolly of the University of Melbourne introduces the history and background of Family Group Conference (FGC) in New Zealand and Australia and discusses the influence of FGC on the development of formal or statutory kinship care in the region.

In this presentation Professor Connolly reviews recent trends in the use of kinship care in Australia and discusses what this shift means in the context of the ‘residual’ model of child protection used in the country.

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 of the fourth periodic report of Yemen under the Convention on the Rights of the Child at its sixty-fifth Session (13 Jan 2014 - 31 Jan 2014).

This country care review includes the care related Concluding Observations adopted by the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

This country care review includes the care related Concluding Observations adopted by the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

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 of the combined second to fourth periodic report of the Congo under Convention on the Rights of the Child at its sixty-fifth Session (13 Jan 2014 - 31 Jan 2014).

This country care review includes the care related Concluding Observations adopted by the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

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 of the second periodic report of the Holy See under Convention on the Rights of the Child at its sixty-fifth Session (13 Jan 2014 - 31 Jan 2014).

This leaflet is a mapping of Save the children’s role and work in promoting the engagement of fathers. It presents some of the evidence of the benefits of involving fathers and some of the strategies used by the organization and others.

This narrated interactive feature presents a logic model showing how policies and programs that strengthen specific kinds of caregiver and community capacities can build the foundations of healthy development.