This study surveyed 340 adolescents in residential care facilities across Israel to assess their emotional well-being and sense of security during the Israel–Hamas war. Findings show high levels of sadness, stress, and anger among youth, but those who felt cared for and supported by staff reported greater security, underscoring the need to strengthen staff–adolescent relationships during crises.

This study explores the transition and livelihood strategies of adolescent girls in and out of institutional care in Harare, Zimbabwe, comparing 16 girls still in care with 16 who had exited. Findings reveal that girls leaving care rely on diverse social networks for survival but often struggle to sustain themselves, highlighting the need for transition programs that reduce institutional dependency, prevent early marriage, and promote economic inclusion.

This brief analyses the state of alternative care for children in Chile, highlighting key statistics, sectoral findings and areas for policy improvement. It is part of a broader analysis of gender equality, disability and social inclusion (GEDSI) in Chile. The analysis draws on existing literature, government reports and key informant interviews (KIIs) with stakeholders working in this area.

This report assesses Scotland’s efforts to fulfil The Promise—a national commitment made in 2020 to overhaul the country’s care system so children and young people “grow up loved, safe and respected.” It identifies significant persistent challenges in three key areas: governance and accountability, data and measurement, and resources and investment.

In this webinar, part of the University of Kent Centre for Child Protection’s ‘Critical Conversations in Child Protection’ series, Rebecca Smith and Geoffrey Oyat from Save the Children International, discussed the evolution of programs supporting family-based care and children without appropriate care, including unaccompanied and separated children, over the past thirty years.

This study examines strategies for reintegrating street children in Harare, Zimbabwe, into their families, highlighting the root causes of homelessness and the need for psychosocial support, counselling, family conferences, and community engagement. It emphasizes innovative, evidence-based approaches to ensure effective family reintegration and informs policymakers, social development officers, and researchers addressing child homelessness.

This study explores the experiences of young women leaving residential care in Catalonia, Spain, revealing that limited, inconsistent support—focused mainly on technical skills—neglects their emotional and social needs. It calls for a caring, individualized approach to guide their transition to adulthood and prevent further vulnerability and institutional abandonment.

This study analyzes Indonesia’s legal framework for adoption, detailing its procedures, requirements, and implications under national child protection laws. It finds that while adoption ensures children’s welfare and grants them equal rights in care and education, inheritance and lineage distinctions remain under existing legal provisions.

This article examines the socialization and education of orphaned children in Ukraine amid the war, highlighting the psychological trauma, deprivation, and social challenges they face. It calls for reforms in caregiver training, trauma-informed education, and the adoption of a personal paradigm approach that supports each child’s development, resilience, and self-realization.

This article analyzes how Nigeria’s statutory, customary, and international laws intersect to shape adoption and legitimacy, revealing inconsistencies, cultural resistance, and systemic weaknesses that undermine children’s rights. It calls for legal harmonization and reforms grounded in child-centered and rights-based principles to create a more inclusive and secure framework for recognizing parenthood.

This report from the UK Children’s Commissioner, Dame Rachel de Souza, reviews progress and challenges in children’s social care since she began her term in 2021. It highlights persistent failures to uphold children’s rights and presents a vision for transformative reform centered on those rights.

On Monday, November 3rd, A Family for Every Orphan hosted an interactive consultation and introductory launch of the Family-First Framework — a practical and adaptable set of visual tools designed to help cou

The article presents an in‑depth interview with the organisation This Life Cambodia, which works at the grassroots level in Cambodia to empower local communities around issues of social justice. It explores how community‑driven family‑strengthening approaches are applied in contexts of complex vulnerability, emphasising the importance of locally led support networks, culturally appropriate practices, and the agency of caregivers in sustaining positive family and community outcomes.

This paper examines the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, and its regulations in the context of child care institutions (CCIs) in Odisha, focusing on the role of CCI staff in supporting institutionalized children through the child welfare committee. Findings from a qualitative study of three children’s homes in Balangir district indicate that staff often fail to address children’s emotional and psychological needs, highlighting the importance of staff training to effectively fulfill duties under the Juvenile Justice Act.

This mixed-methods study examined transition planning in Victoria, Australia, from the perspectives of young people, residential out-of-home care staff, and cross-sector workers, revealing that while multiple organizations support youth—particularly Child Protection and residential care providers—responsibilities and participation methods vary, with young people often involved indirectly rather than through formal goal-setting.

This study examined the impact of orphanage-based interventions on orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) in Benin City, Nigeria, focusing on healthcare, education, and vocational support. Findings revealed significant inadequacies in these services, with participants expressing dissatisfaction, and the study recommends free health insurance enrollment and mandatory school scholarships to improve OVC well-being.

This study examines the educational experiences of children in Charitable Children's Institutions (CCIs) in Kenya, highlighting how institutional care often fills gaps left by inadequate education and other services in contexts of poverty. Findings reveal that children in CCIs face marginalization, stigma, and disrupted learning, while promising interventions include cross-sector partnerships, safeguarding training, and transitioning CCIs toward community-based support within national care reform.

Care-experienced youth worldwide face housing instability, unemployment, psychological distress, and legal vulnerability when leaving out-of-home care, highlighting the need for coordinated transitional support. This paper proposes a Global Framework for Transitional Support that integrates stable housing, mental health care, education and workforce pathways, and legal empowerment through an adaptable, trauma-informed model designed for diverse cultural and resource contexts.

India’s adoption laws have evolved over more than a century, creating parallel systems that affect eligibility, speed of adoption, and the rights of adoptive families. This study examines the historical origins and gaps in these laws and advocates for a unified framework that aligns with constitutional and international standards.

This study examines the experiences of street children in Arusha City, Tanzania, highlighting the challenges they face due to poverty, family breakdown, and rapid urbanization. Findings show that most street children are boys aged 10–14 with only primary education, and reintegration efforts often fail because of institutional mistrust and socio-cultural barriers.

This study examines adoption practices in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, highlighting legal challenges such as jurisdictional ambiguities, inconsistent procedures, and document falsification. It emphasizes the crucial role of social workers in navigating these obstacles, advocating for children’s rights, and supporting families throughout the adoption process.

Este relatório examina o contexto histórico e social da deficiência e do cuidado no Brasil, com ênfase na percepção das mães e cuidadoras, destacando as desigualdades profundamente enraizadas enfrentadas por pessoas com deficiência e suas mães, particularmente em áreas periféricas. A história de exclusão do Brasil, enraizada em ideologias racistas, capacitistas e sexistas, continua a marginalizar pessoas negras, mulheres e pessoas com deficiências, com mulheres negras e pobres desproporcionalmente atribuídas a papéis de cuidado. 

This report examines the historical and social context of disability and care in Brazil, with emphasis on the perception of mothers and caregivers, highlighting the deep-rooted inequalities faced by people with disabilities and their mothers, particularly in peripheral areas. Brazil’s history of exclusion, rooted in racist, ableist, and sexist ideologies, continues to marginalize Black people, women, and people with disabilities, with Black and poor women disproportionately assigned care roles. 

This article reviews how ‘success’ is defined for young adults, comparing academic and care-experienced perspectives with the narrow statutory outcome measures currently used for care leavers in England. It finds that existing measures are limited and advocates for a more comprehensive approach that centers care leavers’ own definitions of success.

This document presents a comprehensive report on a pilot project in Kenya that tested the Social Cohesion for Disability Inclusion Approach as part of the Changing the Way We Care℠ initiative. The report details the implementation process, participant feedback, and measurable shifts in knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors among caregivers and community members, highlighting increased empathy, inclusion, and advocacy.

Countries that sign the Global Charter on Children's Care Reform are encouraged to make their own commitments describing specific actions they will take to realise the aims of the Charter. This guidance provides instructions on how governments can request technical support from a team of care reform advisors to develop or begin implementing those commitments.

This report presents findings from an evaluation by Changing the Way We Care (CTWWC) that used a realist approach to examine how care reform progressed in Guatemala, India, Kenya, and Moldova across five key system components. It identifies advocacy, government ownership, collaboration, and capacity-building as major drivers of change and offers recommendations for governments and partners to embed family care in national systems, strengthen coordination and workforce capacity, and sustain reforms through evidence, shared learning, and long-term commitment.

At the close of the Changing the Way We Care (CTWWC) The Changing the Way We Care (CTWWC) initiative launched in 2018 with the aim to reform child care systems by promoting safe, nurturing family-based care over institutional care.

At the close of the Changing the Way We Care (CTWWC) The Changing the Way We Care (CTWWC) initiative launched in 2018 with the aim to reform child care systems by promoting safe, nurturing family-based care over institutional care.

At the close of the Changing the Way We Care (CTWWC) The Changing the Way We Care (CTWWC) initiative launched in 2018 with the aim to reform child care systems by promoting safe, nurturing family-based care over institutional care.

This contribution aims at highlighting principles as well as recommended practice to guide states in ensuring a cross-border kafāla placement is in the best interests of a child.

The report is an attempt to capture the complex and difficult situation faced by unaccompanied children seeking international protection at the Polish-Belarusian border. It describes the legal and factual state of affairs in 2024.

This document provides an overview of the Policy Analysis and Benchmarking Tool for Universal Parenting Support. The tool is intended to help governments analyse the current landscape of parenting support and plan for future expansion.

This country care profile provides an overview of key lessons learned in the children’s care reform process in Kenya, including successes, challenges and areas for progress, and gaps in learning and best practice.

Children affected by conflict, displacement, and disasters face heightened risks of family separation, underscoring the need to strengthen alternative care systems. To update and adapt the Alternative Care in Emergencies (ACE) Toolkit to current realities, the Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action’s Unaccompanied and Separated Children Task Force conducted a 2024 global survey—led by Save the Children and the International Rescue Committee—to inform revised, context-responsive guidance and address emerging policy and practice gaps.

Cet outil vise à aider les praticiens à atteindre les objectifs suivants lorsqu'ils fournissent un soutien technique aux institutions en transition :

This report presents findings from a small-scale qualitative study commissioned by Family for Every Child, examining how kinship care is understood and experienced in Aotearoa New Zealand. It explores the challenges faced by kinship carers and their support needs.

Dieser Beitrag beschäftigt sich mit theologischen und historischen Hintergründen christlichen Engagements für Waisen speziell im deutschen Kontext und stellt wichtige Forschungsergebnisse der letzten Jahrzehnte zum Kindeswohl in Waisenheimen dar. Dabei werden auch gewohnten Denkmuster hinterfragt und Alternativen aufgezeigt, die im besten Interesse der Kinder sind.

This article, by Markus Köker, examines the theological, historical, and practical dimensions of Christian involvement in orphanages, particularly focusing on institutions in the Global South and the support they receive from the Global North. Köker traces how good intentions, religious motivations, and volunteer tourism have sustained orphanage systems that often harm children’s development and perpetuate family separation.

Street-connected children in Ghana face systemic marginalization, requiring comprehensive interventions at the family, community, and policy levels. Based on insights from 12 social workers, this study highlights micro-, mezzo-, and macro-level strategies to reduce the number of street-connected children and support their reintegration into society.

Italy and Türkiye, both key transit countries for unaccompanied children, have legal frameworks to support them, yet gaps between policy and practice hinder access to services and a smooth transition to adulthood. This study, based on qualitative fieldwork and 23 interviews conducted in both countries, examines reception systems, accommodation services, and the challenges unaccompanied children face during this critical life stage.

This study assessed the mental health of children in 12 Nigerian residential institutions and found that many had abnormal scores on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, with risks linked to orphan status, type of institution, and length of stay. The findings highlight the urgent need for routine mental health assessments and better care for children in residential settings.

This book unveils unique research on the transformative power of listening to children, exploring how they navigate family life and relationships. It offers fresh insights for theories, policies and practices in support of children’s welfare.

This study explored the experiences of 11 young mothers in Western Australia with out-of-home care (OHC) backgrounds, highlighting that leaving care planning and post-care support often failed to meet their needs, particularly around parenting. Participants felt underprepared and under-supported, but expressed determination to break cycles of OHC, pointing to the need for improved services and future research.

The Voice of the Child toolkit is an evidence-based resource designed for researchers, service providers, clinicians, and others keen to involve children and young people in their work – whether they are just starting out or looking to expand their skills. Drawing on research, consultations, and best practice, this toolkit offers practical guidance for planning, designing, and implementing a process of involvement – whatever your context. 

Este estudio de caso sobre cómo regular el volunturismo que involucra a niñas, niños y adolescentes se basa en el análisis de modelos viables resultantes de las experiencias de los países de origen y destino seleccionados que emprendieron iniciativas para abordar esta cuestión en los últimos años.