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.

This study advances the understanding of child separation and Family Tracing and Reunification (FTR) needs in humanitarian settings.

This video shows highlights from The National Summit on “Reimagining the Care System for Children in India” held on the 30th of March, 2025, in New Delhi. The Summit aimed to foster collaboration, learning and collective action among key stakeholders from government, civil society, academia, and individuals with lived experience.

The National Summit on “Reimagining the Care System for Children in India” was held on the 30th of March, 2025, in New Delhi.

In January 2025, the U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office launched an initiative to transform the lives of children globally so that all children are cared for in families and free of violence, exploitation and other harmful practices.

Through this new campaign governments, civil society, faith groups, and individuals with lived experience of care systems are calling on world leaders to join forces in a global movement that harnesses decades of international progress to ensure all children are growing up in a safe, nurturing and loving family environment. This overview calls on government leaders to join this movement.

This report makes a series of recommendations on issues affecting all types of care, including foster care, adoption, kinship care, children’s homes, and support for disabled children in the UK.

This document provides comprehensive guidelines for designing, implementing, and evaluating effective and scalable parenting programs—including by examining their costs—particularly in low- and middle-income countries.

This report provides a comprehensive overview of global and regional child labor trends. The publication profiles children engaged in child labor, maps where these practices are most concentrated, and examines the critical impact on children’s access to education and learning outcomes.

The VACS Data Dashboard is a comprehensive online tool designed to provide easy access to data from the Violence Against Children and Youth Surveys (VACS) across more than 20 countries.

There is currently little consensus in the United Kingdom around the prevalence of violence against children: maltreatment, intimate partner violence, sexual violence, bullying, and community violence, and most existing studies focus on only a single or a few forms of violence. This study aims to produce data to highlight the current magnitude of the problem in the UK, to inform policy, drive action and allow for monitoring of progress over time.

This briefing looks at what data and statistics are available about children in care to help professionals, and the organisations they work for, make
evidence-based decisions.

Safety, or the absence of maltreatment, is the primary mandate of the child protection services (CPS) system, both for children living at home and those living away from home. Yet, few research studies have examined maltreatment in out-of-home care due to the low incidence rate and data limitations. This study used statewide administrative data to estimate the association between placement type and experiencing a maltreatment investigation or substantiation in out-of-home care.

Physical victimization by peers was examined among 1,324 Jewish and Arab adolescents, aged 11 to 19, residing in 32 residential care settings (RCS) for children at-risk in Israel.

This summary draws on the work of the UNICEF Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (ECARO) with and for children with disabilities to develop pathways for their full inclusion in their communities.

This study addresses a critical knowledge gap regarding alternative care in Thailand's Southern Border Provinces (Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat, Satun, and Songkhla), where the population is predominantly Muslim with a strong ethnic Malay identity. The research investigates various forms of alternative care, including institutional care (Pondok and Hafiz institutions, government boarding schools, private orphanages) and family-based care, examining the quality of care, available social services, and cultural context.

The Framework for Action is an interagency initiative, led by UNICEF, Save the Children and World Vision, driving global action behind efforts to strengthen child protection systems, mobilising the complex array of stakeholders at sub-national, national, regional and global levels to implement pledges and commitments to end violence against children.

Millions of persons with disabilities, children and older persons live in congregate settings. Whilst the motivation for providing such care may be well-intentioned, that is not always the case. Many of those settings are ‘institutional’, with residents denied autonomy and choice, provided with poor quality health and social care, and experiencing social isolation, neglect or abuse. This report summarises the evidence and experiences of persons living in congregate settings in general, and in terms of the impact of COVID-19, to understand the barriers to deinstitutionalisation, and to highlight the approaches that have sought to overcome those barriers.

The Care Reform Roadmap (2024-2028) lays out the strategic actions for caring for vulnerable children in Ghana, led by the Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Protection.

This advocacy brief and video are underpinned by research confirming the high costs of violence against children to society, and the significant returns that could accrue from investments made in interventions to prevent and respond to violence against children. The research highlights the need for a paradigm shift, from viewing expenditure on the protection of children from violence as a cost to viewing it as an investment.

This toolkit, building on prior research, presents the economic rationale for investing in the prevention and response to violence against children, emphasizing that such spending should be seen as an investment rather than a cost. Part A outlines the societal and economic benefits of preventing violence, while Part B provides a step-by-step guide for practitioners to develop evidence-based investment cases to persuade governments to adopt integrated, cross-sectoral strategies.

This project explored the experiences of young people in Australia living in ‘therapeutic residential care’ to understand what helps or hinders them in building trust and feeling safe. Drawing on interviews and surveys, it shares insights directly from the young people about what works well and what could be improved.