This paper proposes an expanded conceptual and normative framework for child protection systems to promote coherence, inclusivity, and accountability in both development and humanitarian contexts. Drawing on global data, recent initiatives, and a dual-axis framework distinguishing norms of operation and intent, it offers a field-tested definition to guide national planning, partner alignment, and systems-focused reform that upholds every child’s right to protection.

This report from the Coram Institute for Children marks the 50th anniversary of Coram Voice and highlights the Bright Spots programme, which captures the perspectives of children and young people in care and care leavers to inform local and national policy. Drawing on 27,000 responses collected between 2015 and 2024, the study focuses on what matters most to children and young people in their lives, emphasizing their voices rather than care system outcomes or reasons for entering care.

This qualitative study explores the emotional, psychological, and social experiences of adoptive mothers in India through in-depth interviews, identifying key themes related to adoption processes, wellbeing, family dynamics, personal values, and societal influences. The findings highlight how these experiences interact with biopsychosocial factors, underscoring the need for more informed, mother-centred policies and support mechanisms in the adoption system.

This study examines how socio-psychological factors influence parents’ attitudes toward fostering children in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria, using a correlational design and survey data from parents in urban and rural communities. Findings show that family communication patterns and disciplinary beliefs significantly predict positive attitudes toward fostering, highlighting the need for sensitization and education initiatives led by government and social welfare organizations.

This study examines whether institutional rehabilitation for street girls in Pakistan is genuinely transformative by assessing services at the Zamung Kor Model Institute through a gender- and child-centred lens. While findings show improvements in safety, emotional regulation, and educational engagement, persistent gaps in trauma-informed care, vocational pathways, and post-discharge support highlight the need to reconceptualize rehabilitation as a continuous, community-linked process.

This book explores the challenges facing orphans and vulnerable children in Zimbabwe within the broader context of the Global South, highlighting how poverty, inequality, HIV/AIDS, and economic instability deepen children’s vulnerability. Drawing on Ubuntu philosophy, neoliberalism, and African Renaissance perspectives, it underscores the importance of community-led, culturally sensitive, and African-driven approaches to inform policy and practice supporting OVCs.

This article examines kinship care as an unwritten but legally significant source of child protection law, drawing on concepts of living law to show how informal caregiving practices operate across diverse legal and cultural contexts yet remain largely invisible within formal legal systems. Using comparative analysis from Europe and the Global South, it highlights both the strengths and risks of informal kinship care and calls for a child-centred, legally pluralistic approach to better align community norms with state and international law.

Ten kinship carers and a research team from the charity Kinship and Lancaster University coproduced this toolkit in three fun and creative workshops. The research team included peer researchers and workshop facilitators with experience as kinship carers.

This report examines opportunities and challenges in co-producing research on kinship care, highlighting the need to involve carers as equal partners rather than treating them solely as research subjects. Drawing on a study conducted between 2022 and 2025 and accompanied by a practical toolkit, it emphasizes inclusive approaches that leverage kinship carers’ lived experiences to produce research relevant to policy and practice across all types of kinship care.

This paper critically examines India’s child protection framework, highlighting that despite comprehensive legislation like the JJ Act, POCSO, and programs such as Mission Vatsalya, systemic gaps in implementation, funding, institutional capacity, and data collection leave millions of children—particularly those in Child Care Institutions (CCIs)—vulnerable to abuse, neglect, and child marriage.