Child protection systems have traditionally emphasized remedial services over prevention, often relying on uniform care models that fail to account for children’s diverse needs. This study examines the child protection systems of countries representing various welfare models and comparatively evaluates the practices for disabled children in need of protection in these systems.

Foster care is the preferred out-of-home placement for children at risk. However, the number of children in child protection systems exceeds the availability of foster families, highlighting the need for recruitment campaigns. Despite the growing development of such campaigns, their results have not been evaluated. This study aimed to design and experimentally evaluate messages to increase awareness, willingness, and intention to foster in Portugal.

Drawing on the panel and discussions at the Global Study’s Global Conference on Justice for Children Deprived of Liberty 2024 Geneva event, this chapter outlines key elements required for deinstitutionalisation for effective children’s care reforms that are accountable to children. It proposes a two-pronged approach of systems change reforms reinforced by accountability mechanisms to achieve this for children in institutions specifically for care purposes.

This study investigates how Kinship Navigator Programs (KNPs) help mitigate disparities in caregiving challenges faced by informal kinship caregivers (especially grandparents) of maltreated children. Using Latent Class Analysis, the research identifies three distinct patterns of caregiving challenges: financial, child's behavioral/emotional health, and intergenerational family dynamics. 

The Solomon Island's Child and Family Welfare Act 2017 signalled a strong commitment from the government to strengthen national efforts to prevent and respond to violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation of children. This Multi-Sectoral Implementation Plan 2025–2030 outline's the government's plan to improve services to strengthen family and community caring practices and to ensure a timely and appropriate response to all children in need of care and protection.

The human rights challenges faced by Queer youth in out-of-home care (OOHC), such as foster and residential care, have largely been overlooked in child protection research, policy, and practice development. This systematic scoping review aims to identify and synthesize the existing international, English-language, empirical research documenting the human rights challenges experienced by Queer youth in OOHC systems.

Integrated healthcare models combining behavioral and primary care provide solutions for vulnerable pediatric populations, especially youth in foster care, facing disproportionately high rates of chronic conditions and mental health issues. This review synthesizes current literature to assess the impact of integrated care on health outcomes for youth in foster care in the U.S..

The first comprehensive “Benchmarking Report on Parenting Support Policies and Programs in the Republic of Serbia” aims to support national and local efforts to improve the availability and quality of systemic, cross-sectoral support for parents and caregivers in Serbia, in order to ensure the optimal development of children and young people.

Based on the importance of including children with disabilities in the growing movement toward deinstitutionalization and care reform, the Children and Families Together – India consortium, with Keystone Human Services International as the prime, undertook an assessment of the situation of care and protection of children with disabilities in India.

On June 9, Keystone Human Services International and partners hosted a side event at the 18th Conference of States Parties to the CRPD on “Closing the Revolving Doors: A Lifespan Approach to Deinstitutionalization.” Panelists explored challenges, opportunities, and success stories in advancing sustainable care reform and community-based supports for children and adults with disabilities.

This study aimed to highlight the challenges faced by care leavers due to the absence of or inadequate aftercare support during the transition, which increases care leavers’ vulnerabilities to homelessness, unemployment, substance misuse and ruptured social relationships.

Using interdisciplinary analysis, Kit W. Myers examines the adoption of Asian, Black, and Native American children by White families in the United States. He shows how race has been constructed relationally to mark certain homes, families, and nations as spaces of love and better futures—in contrast to others that are not.

The Adoptions and Safe Families Act (ASFA) of 1997, combined with rising incarceration rates, has increased the risk of parental rights termination for incarcerated parents, often leading to foster care placements for their children. A review of state-level policies found most lacked coordination between the child welfare and criminal legal systems, highlighting the need for cross-system collaboration and inclusion of parents with lived experience in legislative efforts.

This research examined children’s homes, one of the residential child care institutions in Turkey, in terms of spatial aspects, institutional functioning and, child-care staff relations.

In this commentary, two examples of how research often cited in calls to eliminate residential care has been inappropriately overgeneralized.

A scoping review of 31 studies (2013–2023) examined why children and young people in out-of-home care in Australia spend unauthorised time away from placements. Findings show these absences often reflect efforts to seek safety, stability, connection, autonomy, and belonging, highlighting systemic shortcomings and the need for youth-informed practices that address needs both in care and while away.

Providing comprehensive healthcare to children in foster care can be challenging. This discussion provides healthcare providers in the US with a practical, trauma-informed guide to caring for youth in foster care rooted in evidence-based practice and current guidelines.

This article investigates the image of an ideal foster grandparent as constructed by social workers, drawing upon 24 in-depth interviews with practitioners from foster care agencies in the Czech Republic.

This study examined the geographical location of fostered children in Kenya, identified who provides their care and the nature of mothers’ relationships with these caregivers, explored transitions and mobility within kin networks, and analyzed how location and distance influence maternal–child contact.

This study, conducted in the UK, aimed to better understand the experiences of foster carers who are caring for children who have experienced trauma and loss.

This Norwegian study examines how unaccompanied refugee minors in foster care (re)create a sense of home over time, identifying security, familiarity, and autonomy as key intertwined aspects. It underscores the dynamic role of past experiences, present circumstances, and future aspirations, emphasizing the need for foster parents and child welfare workers to support cultural, relational, and personal continuity.

Vlad is a 13-year-old child rights advocate in the Republic of Moldova. Speaking at a United Nations Human Rights Council's debate on the rights of the child on 13 March 2025, he stressed the importance of investing in early childhood development. "The earlier we act, the more chances we give the child to develop harmoniously," he said.

This systematic review of open-access research examined the effects of parental separation on children, identifying a wide range of adverse outcomes including neurological changes, trauma, abuse, poor academic performance, mental health disorders, and risky behaviors. The risk is highest between ages 9 months and 9 years, particularly when separation is abrupt, occurs in preschool years, involves care by strangers, or coincides with a change of residence.

This study explored the experiences of 14 adolescents living in a ci'aiyuan childcare institution in Xiangxi, China, finding that it sometimes fostered supportive relationships, enhanced perceived social support, and facilitated positive life changes. While these accounts challenge dominant negative views of institutional care, the study emphasizes the need to address ongoing complexities and challenges in such settings.

Using group-based trajectory modelling on Swedish children born 1990–1999, this study identified six distinct patterns of out-of-home care placements that varied in onset, duration, and type. Findings show greater parental disadvantage among children entering care earlier, highlighting the need for early intervention and family-centred prevention strategies.

An analysis of 14 national foster care policies across six European countries found that while most acknowledge children’s cultural, ethnic, religious, and linguistic backgrounds, they provide little concrete guidance on ensuring relational and cultural continuity—particularly for children with migrant backgrounds. The study highlights four policy patterns, including prioritizing adult over peer relationships, emphasizing parental contact over extended family or transnational ties, assuming Western cultural norms, and struggling to balance immediate care needs with maintaining cultural and relational connections.

Kin and fictive kin involvement can be protective following maltreatment and contribute to the development of children’s strengths. Findings show that support from kin may positively influence strength development for youth in foster care. Professionals in foster care should prioritize kin involvement to enhance support and develop youth strengths.

This study used a quasi-experimental design to evaluate the Transition to Independence Program (TIP) at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, which provides targeted financial aid, concrete supports, academic coaching, and navigation assistance for college students with foster care experience. Findings show TIP participants had significantly higher retention rates than non-participating peers with foster care backgrounds and performed on par with low-income, first-generation students without foster care experience.

Out-of-home care entry can have profound effects on families, society, and a child’s development and wellbeing. This review synthesised evidence on the factors contributing to initial entry and re-entry into out-of-home care during childhood (<18 years), as well as those that protect against these outcomes.

This consensus statement on youth in foster care makes a case for a developmentally informed system of care. Although it avoids making specific policy and practice recommendations, it identifies general areas where research can inform change.

Understanding the circumstances in which children migrate is important to ensure their well-being. Yet, child migration in sub-Saharan Africa is not easy to measure. Health and Demographic Surveillance Systems (HDSS) provide an excellent opportunity to estimate child migration in the region.

Transitioning to adulthood is challenging. For young people raised in youth care, this is even more difficult as they often have a limited social network.

This meta-analysis examines the impact of supportive housing on child welfare outcomes, focusing on whether it reduces foster care placements, facilitates family reunification, and decreases homelessness and subsequent child welfare reports in the United States.

A randomized controlled trial examined the effectiveness of a peer grief support program for youth in foster care, an underrepresented population who experience disenfranchised grief. The sample included 78 youth, ages 12–20, randomly assigned to a treatment or waitlist control group.

The objective of the study is to explore the impact of residence and education status on the basic needs of street children in Pabna Municipality, Bangladesh.

This study, conducted by the Children and Family Research Center at the University of Illinois, examines the prevalence, nature, and circumstances of child maltreatment in out-of-home care, with a focus on identifying cases that occurred prior to placement but are recorded as incidents during car

This document aims to give a brief outline of the main steps taken by Bulgaria and by Romania in their struggle to reform the national child protection systems. The experience accumulated between the two countries, both in terms of similarities and differences (in terms of approach and level of success) may constitute an important basis of debate and inspiration/ learning for other countries in the region that are sharing similar post-communist heritage and are currently considering ways of approaching their own child protection reforms.

For over 20 years, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has reported on youth in the foster care system who are placed in residential facilities, including concerns with the physical, emotional, and sexual abuse of these youth.

Residential care for children has aroused much controversy. Several scandals involving the physical and sexual abuse of residents have led to public inquiries and reports (Kent, 1997; Utting, 1997; Waterhouse, 2000). These have almost all concerned abuse by staff.

Despite significant efforts towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that have been made since 2015, progress for children in recent years has stalled, been reversed, or has been insufficient in many countries and for millions of children. This UNICEF policy solutions report presents the evidence for a set of policies that have shown to generate important results across multiple children’s outcomes. These include child benefits, immunization, quality secondary education for girls, and early childhood nutrition and development programmes. 

This paper provides a comparative analysis of social work professionalization in the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore. By examining the different approaches across the countries, policymakers will have examples of practices that have been effective elsewhere and adopt these to suit the context of Malaysia.

This study protocol outlines the first randomized controlled trial of Hope Groups—a 12-session psychosocial, mental health, and parenting support program—among Ukrainians affected by war. The trial aims to assess its impact on caregiver mental health, violence prevention, and family well-being, with potential for global adaptation and scale-up in other crisis-affected settings if proven effective.

This paper aimed to assess the effectiveness of psychosocial and parenting support groups, called ’Hope Groups,’ on improvements in caregiver mental health, positive parenting, and prevention of violence against children, for families affected by the war in Ukraine, using a pre/post study design.

This guideline provides evidence-based recommendations on parenting interventions for parents and caregivers of children aged 0–17 years that are designed to reduce child maltreatment and harsh parenting, enhance the parent–child relationship, and prevent poor mental health among parents and emot

This policy brief explores how extended foster care in the U.S.—enabled by the Fostering Connections Act of 2008—can support young people aging out of foster care by providing critical resources and stable living arrangements through Independent Living Programs (ILPs) and Supervised Independent Living Placements (SILPs). It outlines the challenges these youth face, the evolution of related federal policy, and offers recommendations to strengthen support during their transition to adulthood.

Advocacy is about representing the views, wishes and needs of children and young people to professionals making decisions about their lives, and helping them to navigate the system, especially in times of transition.

This study explores the prevalence and multilevel risk factors of 1,309 Israeli Arab and Jewish adolescents’ experiences of unwelcome sexual behaviors by peers in residential care settings (RCSs) for at-risk children.

The 2024 Annual Report of the Global Coalition for Youth Mental Health highlights the Coalition’s expanding efforts to address the global mental health needs of children, youth, and caregivers.

A scoping review on the short-term (during care) outcomes of residential care at the user level (children and their families) was conducted.

The SNEH: Supporting Nurturing Enabling Happy Families compendium was developed by Miracle Foundation India as part of the first National Family Summit to showcase progress, insights, and best practices in advancing family-based care and child protection reforms in India. It builds on lessons from its “Leadership Dialogue” series and collaborations with government, civil society, and care-experienced youth.