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Resources on Ukraine Response

This section includes resources, news and other key documents related to children's care in the context of the current humanitarian crisis affecting Ukraine and surrounding countries. This section is updated daily. For more resources, visit the growing collection of documents in the BCN Ukraine Response Repository.

Statement by the Members of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine to the United Nations Security Council Arria-Formula Meeting, New York

A/78/540: Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine - Note by the Secretary-General (Advance Unedited Version)


The present report is submitted to the General Assembly by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 52/32, which renewed the Commission’s initial mandate for one additional year. The report concludes that "the collected evidence further shows that Russian authorities have committed the war crimes of wilful killing, torture, rape and other sexual violence, and the deportation of children to the Russian Federation

Understanding the Situation

Investing in Family Care for Moldova’s Future: The Case for Meeting Moldova's Human Capital Needs


The Investing in Family Care for Moldova’s Future presents the case for investing in a more child-centered social welfare system in Moldova and provides specific estimates on the resources needed including an estimate of the resources required to fund the spectrum of programs and services Moldova needs to (i) prevent children from being placed in residential care; (ii) place children in safe, nurturing, and supported families; and (iii) transform residential settings into community assets that effectively meet community needs.



Related Content:




Related Content: Effects of Institutional Care

Financing Family Strengthening and Child Protection Services in the Context of Moldova - EU Association Agenda: 2023 Financing for Better Care Conference Report


This is a conference report of the first International Conference on Financing of Family Strengthening and Child Protection Services in the Context of Moldova’s European Union Association Agenda held in Chisinau from 20-21 June 2023.

Overrepresentation is Not Accidental: Systemic Racism in Australian Child Protection and Out-Of-Home Care Systems


This article highlights the continuity of overrepresentation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, and systemic racism, in the Australian child protection and out-of-home care systems over time.


Related Topic: Child Care and Protection System Reforms

Children’s Rights in Bulgaria Between Theory and Practice: The case of the deinstitutionalization reform


In this article, the authors aim to analyse how the process of deinstitutionalization in Bulgaria relates to the concept of child’s rights articulated in the CRC on which it is based. They focus on children without disabilities, specifically children raised in small home centres (SHC2) subject to so-called residential care.


Related Topic: Leaving Alternative Care and Reintegration

Understanding the Lived Experience of Young Adults Who Grew Up in Residential Care Centres in Tanzania and a Theory of Action to Reorient Care for Vulnerable Children


This mixed-methods study collects survey data from 253 adults involved with vulnerable children in Tanzania and narrative data from 31 young adults who experienced residential care during their childhood. The research fills a gap in the literature about the lived experiences of children in institutional care and the impacts of this type of care on their lives.


Related Topic: Leaving Alternative Care and Reintegration

Study on the Experience of Alternative Care Leavers in Chiang Mai & Chiang Rai, Thailand


The purpose of this study is to explore how growing up in private residential care in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai provinces of Thailand has affected children’s well-being over time. The research provided an important opportunity for young people to describe and analyze their experience, as well as make their own conclusions and recommendations.


Related Topic: Leaving Alternative Care and Reintegration

Examining the Implications of Early Adolescent Attachment on Out-of-Home Placement and Family Courts


The purpose of this U.S.-based nonexperimental quantitative study was to examine the responses of 18- to 24-year-olds who had been in out-of-home care, comparing early adolescent versus non-early adolescent placement, placement setting, and sibling accessibility on attachment.


Related Topic: Effects of Institutional Care

Adoption as a Lifelong Process


This book addresses the psychosocial complexities of adoption from multiple perspectives, including the biological family, adopted child, and adoptive parents. It highlights the must-have sensitivity and tactfulness for recurring discussions of the adoption situation.


Related Topic: Adoption and Kafala

The Evolution of Alternative Care in:


Global Report on Children with Developmental Disabilities


This WHO-UNICEF Global Report on children with developmental disabilities provides principles and approaches to intentionally include the needs and aspirations of children and young people with developmental disabilities in policy, programming and public health monitoring. 


Related Topic: Children With Disabilities

Global Girlhood Report 2023: Girls at the Centre of the Storm – Her Planet, Her Future, Her Solutions


This year’s adolescent-friendly Global Girlhood Report explores how the climate crisis impacts girls’ rights. It features new analysis by Save the Children on emergency hotspots where girls face the dual threat of child marriage and climate disasters, and stories of girls advocating for climate action in their communities.



The Unique Role of Peer Support: Exploring the Effects of Various Sources of Social Support on the Mental Health of Unaccompanied Children in China under Residential Education


This study investigates the impact of various sources of social support on the mental health of unaccompanied children under residential education in China.


Related Topic: Psychosocial Support

My Journey in Alternative Care: The Voice of Care Leavers


This is a series of written interviews conducted with care-experienced persons from Bhutan, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka who have had experience with alternative care. These interviews were published in the September 2023 issue of the Institutionalised Children Explorations and Beyond journal.


Related Topic: Principles of Good Care Practices

Children Living in Prison with a Primary Caregiver: A Global Mapping of Age Restrictions and Duration of Stay


Global consensus on the age at which child confinement inhibits healthy development has not been reached. Human rights violations worldwide illustrate the failures of prison systems to consider the needs of children and ensure humane standards for children living in detention.

In this Health Policy, the authors map the global variation in age restrictions and durations of stay in prison with a primary caregiver. 


Related Topic: Assessment and Placement Monitoring

On the Challenge of Historicizing Violence: Conflicts in State Redress for Historical Abuse of Children in Out-of-home Care


This essay examines how child abuse and violence that occurred in the past have been conceptualised in one current redress process in an established democracy – the Swedish redress initiatives for historical abuse of children in out-of-home care.


Related Topic: Effects of Institutional Care

Becoming Adult on the Move: Migration Journeys, Encounters and Life Transitions


This edited collection situates the migration of children and young people into Europe within a global framework of analysis and provides a holistic perspective that encompasses cultural media, ethnographic research and policy analysis. Drawing on a unique study of young unaccompanied migrants who subsequently became ‘adult’ within the UK and Italy, it examines their different trajectories and how they were impacted by their ability to secure legal status.


Related Topic: Children and Migration

The Impacts of Income, Region, and Reason for Placement on Reported Kinship Caregiver Challenges and Needs

This U.S.-based study analyzes data from a statewide kinship caregiver survey which collected demographic data, challenges, and needs.


Related Topic: Kinship Care

‘We Need to Tackle Their Well Being First’: Understanding and Supporting Care-Experienced Girls in the Youth Justice System


This article presents novel findings from interviews with 17 girls and young women and eight Youth Offending Team (YOT) staff, highlighting how being in care in the U.S. can affect offending behaviour and how YOTs may provide support to care-experienced girls who have been inadequately supported elsewhere.


Related Topic: Children Affected By Poverty and Social Exclusion

Integrating Child Welfare and Medicaid Data to Identify and Predict Superutilization of Services for Youth in Foster Care



This chapter summarizes the results of a study of high service use, or “superutilization,” among children in foster care in the U.S. The study linked administrative data from child welfare, Medicaid, and other services for two sites. This chapter is part of the book "Strengthening Child Safety and Well-Being Through Integrated Data Solutions".


Related Topic: Foster Care

First Nations Care Leavers: Supporting Better Transitions 


This resource is aimed at supporting front-line practitioners in Australia to have a working knowledge of the historical and contemporary context of social welfare policies and their impact on First Nations families and to use this knowledge as a starting point to build an awareness of how individual and systemic practices impact First Nations young people and families.

They Cannot Wait Any Longer: The Historic Debt of the Nation of Paraguay - Presentation of Results: Cross-Government Review of the Child Protection and Care System


This report presents the results of the Government of Paraguay's cross-government review of its child protection and care system at a 3-day Interagency Forum of Diagnosis and Dialogue held in July 2023. The event brought together key actors of the system to provide the State a roadmap with efficient and achievable solutions and improvements to optimize the protection system throughout the country with the child at the center.


A Professional Field? Educational Attainments, Gender and Age Among Staff in Swedish Residential Care 


In this article, the authors discuss residential staff in Sweden where residential care is part of the municipal child welfare system, which covers services targeting juvenile delinquency as well as other residential care services. 


Related Topic: Social Service Workforce Strengthening

The View of Minority Youth on Cultural Continuity When Developing Their Identity in Majority Foster Homes


In this article, the focus is on youth with minority backgrounds living in majority foster homes in Norway and their views on cultural continuity. What is important for these young people when developing their identity in foster homes? The study is based on qualitative interviews with nine adolescents from minority

backgrounds who live in majority foster homes, which are homes in which one or both foster parents have ethnic Norwegian backgrounds.


Related Topic: Foster Care

The Right to Leave: Dissolution of Child, Early, and Forced Marriages and Unions


This paper explores why the right to leave marriage matters, describes the obstacles to girls’ access to divorce and to protections after divorce or separation, and links these to the factors that drive child, early, and forced marriages and unions. The authors reviewed reports and evidence from countries in all regions of the world by drawing on a previous systematic scoping review and related research done by the authors.


Related Topic: Child Abuse and Neglect

“Those Bridges That Help You Get There”: How Natural Mentors Improve Social Support and Social Capital of Unaccompanied Immigrant Youths Leaving Residential Care



This qualitative study explores the prevalence and role of natural mentors in the lives of unaccompanied immigrant youth residing in the Barcelona Metropolitan Area. The authors' findings suggest that natural mentors provide various types of social support and social capital, which fulfil the emotional or educational needs of young people.


Related Topic: Residential Care

Attachment Disorder Symptoms in Foster Children: Development and Associations With Attachment Security


This longitudinal study aims at investigating the attachment disorder symptoms during the first year of placement in foster care. The participants were recruited through German social services departments around Dortmund, the Ruhr valley, and the Metropolitan region of Nuremberg.


Related Topic: Foster Care

Social Work's Colonial Past With Indigenous Children and Communities in Australia and Canada: A Cross-National Comparison


This article offers a cross-national comparison of social work in two countries, Australia and Canada, about the care of Indigenous children within the context of colonization and the evolving profession.


Related Topic: Children Affected By Poverty and Social Exclusion


Prioritising Displaced Children in the Global Refugee Agenda


This editorial published in the August 2023 issue of the The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health Journal discusses the needs of children who are disproportionately affected by displacement. The author urges countries to consider the unique needs of displaced children—including those displaced internally, disadvantaged, or with disabilities—in all initiatives and policies, to ensure that no one is left behind ahead of the Global Refugee Forum in December 2023.

Policies, Standards, and Guidelines

Thematic Brief: Volunteering, Voluntourism, Tourism and Trafficking in Orphanages


This thematic brief contains guidance on key policy measures and concrete steps that may assist with the development and implementation of a whole-of-government strategy to eliminate orphanage tourism and voluntourism and to combat orphanage trafficking. It includes recommendations relevant to volunteer-sending and volunteer-receiving countries. In addition, it contains practical examples of effective measures from a diverse range of countries sending and receiving volunteers.


Orphanage Trafficking: The Role of Parliaments in Reducing Harm


This resolution on orphanage trafficking was adopted by consensus at the 147th IPU Assembly in October 2023 and endorsed by 180 parliaments.


Related Topic: Volunteering and Tourism

About Orphanage Trafficking: Description and Indicators - Results from the Enhancing Identification, Prosecution and Prevention of Orphanage Trafficking Study: Cambodia


These are the results from the Enhancing Identification, Prosecution and Prevention of Orphanage Trafficking Study in Cambodia to include a full description of indicators of orphanage trafficking.


Related:


Guidelines on Communicating with Children and Young People - Recommendations from Care Experienced Persons in Care


The purpose of these guidelines is to support practitioners to develop messaging for children and young people that clearly communicates the intention to transition and the implications for children and young people in care.


Related Content: Leaving Alternative Care and Reintegration

CRC/C/GC/26: General Comment No. 26 (2023) on Children’s Rights and the Environment With a Special Focus on Climate Change


In this general comment, the Committee emphasizes the urgent need to address the adverse effects of environmental degradation, with a special focus on climate change, on the enjoyment of children’s rights, and clarifies the obligations of States to address environmental harm and climate change.


Also see:



A/HRC/54/36: Rights of the Child and Inclusive Social Protection - Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (Advance Edited Version)


The OHCHR submitted the first-ever child-friendly report, conducted with over 600+ child participants worldwide. The premise of this report is based on children's right to social support. 



Related Topic: Social Protection Policies and Programmes

Practitioner Handbook for Alternative Family- and Community- Based Care


This handbook is a summarized, user-friendly version of the operating procedures for alternative family- and community-based care options in Kenya. It provides an overview of each type of care, key considerations, and the process followed for placement. The handbook aims to provide an easy and quick reference to critical information and “how to” about alternative family- and community-based care placements.


Related Topic: Community Based Care Mechanisms

The Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for the Alternative Family-based and Community-based Care of Children in Kenya


The Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for the Alternative Family-based and Community-based Care of Children in Kenya provide guidance for the comprehensive implementation of the Guidelines for Alternative Family Care for Children in Kenya (2014).


Related Topic: Leaving Alternative Care and Reintegration

A Portrait of the Rights of Children With Disabilities in Nigeria: A Policy Review


This study examined the extent to which Nigeria’s current disability and childhood policies have integrated the CRC and the CRPD frameworks. Using a structured search of databases and Nigerian federal and state government websites, we conducted a policy review to identify their disability and child-related disability policies.


Related Topic: Children With Disabilities

Learning from Practice

Training of Trainers | Unaccompanied and Separated Children


The Unaccompanied and Separated Children Training of Trainers (UASC TOT) course is designed to prepare participants to facilitate training on unaccompanied and separated children (UASC). 


Related Topic: Children's Care In Emergencies


Insights from Moldova: Role of Targeted Economic Support in Reintegration of Children


In September 2022, Changing the Way We Care (CTWWC) launched an initiative to provide targeted economic support to assist the reintegration of children into families or placement into family based alternative care. Informed by previous experiences in reintegration and information captured in the individual child and family assessments, the CTWWC team developed a standardized and equitable approach to identifying the type and amount of targeted economic support required.



Related Topic: Leaving Alternative Care and Reintegration

Demonstrating a System Strengthening Approach to Care Reform in Kisumu County Kenya


This UNICEF and Changing the Way We Care case study explores the systems strengthening approach to implementing care reform in Kisumu County, Kenya.


Related Topic: Child Care and Protection System Reforms

Transition Capacity Building Roadmap


This document outlines a capacity-building roadmap for scaling up the transition of residential care services. It is an interagency resource developed by Better Care Network and the Transitioning Residential Care Working Group (Transforming Children's Care Collaborative).



Related Topic: Child Care and Protection System Reforms

Developing Welfare Technology to Increase Children’s Participation in Child Welfare Assessments: An Empirical Case in Sweden // Att utveckla välfärdsteknologi som kan stimulera barns delaktighet i barnutredningar: professionsnära forskning från sverige


The purpose of the article is to describe and problematise the practice initiated idea of developing a digital tool for children in child welfare investigations and whether and how this welfare technology is useful for social workers. The results include interview data and descriptions of the research process.


Related Topic: Social Welfare Systems

Understanding, Exploring and Supporting Children’s Identity Development


This practice tool considers how practitioners can explore and write about identity with children and young people. It gives a short introduction to some useful concepts about identity for social care practitioners and provides guidance about how practitioners could support children’s identity development. It also includes a set of practical tips and tools to use to explore children’s identities with them.

Comparative Analysis Report on the Feasibility of Merging Professional Parental Assistance (PPA) and Family-Type Children's Home (FTCH) Social Services


This study analyses the existing family-type social services in Moldova: Professional Parental Assistance (PPA) and Family-Type Children's Homes (FTCH) to identify the rationale for combining the two PPA/ FTCH family care services in terms of the quality of child care and the best interests of children.


Related Topic: Parenting Support

Virtual Gallery: You Promised, Now Deliver


Family for Every Child’s Virtual Gallery is dedicated to the voices of children and young people from around the world, exploring the issues that affect them and their care. They collaborated with VOYCE – Whakarongo Mai to support the “You Promised… Now Deliver!” campaign, and developed a gallery that highlights children and young people’s perspectives on care in Aotearoa via a virtual hikoi to parliament.


Related Topic: Child Participation

Learning Brief: How Case Management Contributes to Sustainable Reintegration of Children from Residential Care to Family-Based Care & Community Services


This learning brief reports on the reflection and shares a collection of case studies collated by caseworkers in Kenya. Using Most Significant Change Storytelling, the caseworkers, supervisors and program managers selected and discussed stories from their work. They discussed what lessons these stories and the discussion drew out about the case management practice. The each of the stories illustrates one or more of the case management steps.


Related Topic: Residential Care

Lessons from Conducting a Participatory Evaluation of a Kinship Navigator Program


In this paper the authors reflect on their process and offer lessons learned from engaging in participatory evaluation in the U.S. that may apply to the field of kinship care and across social service delivery more broadly.


Related Topic: Kinship Care

Challenges Experienced by Child and Youth Care Workers in Child And Youth Care Centres Working With Children


This article explores the challenges of child and youth care workers (CYCWs) working with children in South Africa.


Related Topic: Social Service Workforce Strengthening

Foster Caregiver Experiences: Implications for Retention and Satisfaction


This study examines how multiple factors from foster caregivers’ surrounding environments impact satisfaction and retention among 462 foster caregivers in the United States.


Related Topic: Foster Care

Deinstitutionalization of Children in Residential Care Facilities: Experiences and Perceptions of Professionals in Ghana 


The study's main themes were establishing the need for residential homes for children (RHCs), RHCs not being an ideal family environment and RHCs as respite. Family marital problems, poor financial situation, stigma attached to some children in care, abusive parents and a lack of suitable alternatives when families have a crisis were identified as key factors that impede DI implementation in Ghana.


Related Topic: Effects of Institutional Care

Responding to Children's Ambiguous Loss in Out-of-Home Care: The HEAR Practice Model


Drawing on the findings of a qualitative study undertaken in the state of New South Wales (NSW), Australia, this article applies the concept of ambiguous loss to outline the ways in which Out of Home Care practitioners can more adequately respond to children's experience of grief and loss.


Related Topic: Children Affected By Poverty and Social Exclusion

Practitioner Spotlight

Domnica Coilieva

Foster Parent

Ala Derivolcova

Support Teacher, Ivan Vazov Lyceum

Macrine Otuge

Project Coordinator/Social Worker

Paul Mugambi

Disability Specialist

Maresa Vasquez

Directora Ejecutiva

Joseph Offiro Wetoyi

Counselor and Mediator

Other Ways to Engage With the Community

The Directory of Organizations page lists organizations, agencies, foundations, and networks working in the field of children’s care.

If you would like to feature a profile of your organization in our Directory of Organizations, please fill out this form with information about your organization and we will review it.

The Transforming Children’s Care Collaborative Platform brings together a wide community of actors working to strengthen children’s care and care systems to establish more strategic sector-wide collaboration spanning the global to the local level.


Its aim is to support learning exchange, agree on common principles and approaches, leverage and build on one another’s work, and undertake joint advocacy based in evidence to secure greater and more sustainable impact for children, families and their communities. 

Resources in the BCN Library can be searched by topic or by region/country using the advanced search function or visiting the country/region pages of the website.

Additionally, some of these country pages feature country care snapshots. This consists of dashboards and interactive graphs providing a high-level overview of the status of care reform efforts country by country using key indicators.
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Webinar #15: Breaking the Cycle - Mental Health and Well-being for Care Experienced Children, Young People and Adults


The objective of this webinar was to present the best practices learnt in the implementation of the youth wellbeing project which focused on integrated mental health and wellbeing support for youth and particularly young people with lived experience of care.


Slavery, Child-family Separation, and the Catholic Church in the United States


During this webinar hosted by the Collaborative on Global Children's Issues - Georgetown University participants explored the role of the Catholic Church in separating children from families during slavery in the United States. 


Related Topic: Children's Care In Emergencies

Demonstration Countries for Care Reform in Kenya: Kisumu


The government of Kenya has been working with UNICEF, Changing the Way We Care, Charitable Children's Institutions and local CSOs to pilot care reform at the county level. Learning from these demonstration counties is being used to shape care reform in other counties and at the national level. This video explores care reform in one demonstration county, Kisumu.

Statement by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory

Office of the High Commissioner For Human Rights 10 Nov 2023

Gaza Becoming ‘a Graveyard for Children’, says UN Secretary General

Patrick Wintour - The Guardian 06 Nov 2023

Uganda Court Fines U.S. Couple $28,000 for Child Cruelty

Danai Nesta Kupemba - BBC News 31 Oct 2023

Biggest Independent Children’s Care Providers in England Made £300m Profit Last Year

Michael Savage - The Guardian 28 Oct 2023

New York Expands Financial Support to More Relative Caregivers

Susanti Sarkar, Michael Fitzgerald 27 Oct 2023

Scotland: Payment for Care Leavers

Scottish Government 25 Oct 2023

Ukraine’s Stolen Children Review – the Laughter of the Russian Children’s Commissioner is Shocking

Rebecca Nicholson - The Guardian 23 Oct 2023

Child Stabbings Revealed in Report that State Tried to Suppress

James Beal - The Times 23 Oct 2023

UN Finds Further Evidence of Russian War Crimes in Ukraine

Pjotr Sauer - The Guardian 21 Oct 2023

Russia Returns Four Ukrainian Children in Qatari Deal

Mattea Bubalo - BBC News 16 Oct 2023

’No Matter What I Do, I’m Not in Control’: What Happens When the State Takes Your Child

Kelley Fong - The Guardian 11 Oct 2023

Extreme Weather Displaced 43m Children in Past Six Years, UNICEF Reports

Nina Lakhani - The Guardian 05 Oct 2023

New Federal Rule Supports Kinship Families In Foster Care

Children's Rights 03 Oct 2023

White House Announces Slate of Actions on Child Welfare

John Kelly - Imprint 27 Sep 2023

‘The least we can do is care for their children’: Libyans rally to protect Derna’s orphans‘

Islam Alatrash - The Guardian 22 Sep 2023

Chilean Mothers’ Long Search for Babies Stolen During Pinochet’s Dictatorship

Naomi Larsson Piñeda - Open Democracy 15 Sep 2023

Somalis with Albinism: Pelted with Stones and Raw Eggs

Naciima Saed Salah - BBC News 04 Sep 2023

The Native American Boarding School System

New York Times 30 Aug 2023

How Many More Poor Child Workers Must Die in Pakistan Before Change Happens?

Zofeen T. Ebrahim - The Guardian 28 Aug 2023

‘Hi, Mom. I love you’: U.S. Man Kidnapped as Child in Pinochet’s Chile Reunited with Family

Ramon Antonio Vargas - The Guardian 25 Aug 2023



28 November

Protecting Futures: Addressing Lack of Access to Education for Children Without Legal Identity

28 November

13th International Conference: The 'Manufactured' Child - What are the Challenges for Children's Rights, Identity and Origins?

7 December

Executive Training Programme: Civil Aspects of International Child Protection 

14 - 16 Feb 2024

9th Conference of the International Society for Child Indicators: Global Childhoods - Critical Perspectives Promoting Theoretical, Empirical and Policy Understandings 

2 Feb 2024

Global Forum for a World Without Orphans

8 July 2024

ICAR-8: International Conference on Adoption Research

November 25

Call for Contributions to the 14th Edition of IACN Quarterly

December 31
December 31
December 31
Ongoing
Ongoing



VISIT OUR LIBRARY TO ACCESS OVER 15,513 RESOURCES RELATED TO CARE AND PROTECTION OF VULNERABLE CHILDREN

GENERAL INFORMATION

Newsletter participants, currently 5,030 in total, work on issues related to the care and support of vulnerable children across Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Americas. The purpose of the newsletter is to enable members to exchange information on matters of mutual concern. If you would like to share a document, raise a specific issue, request a newsletter subscription, or reach out in any other way to the Network, please send the information to us at contact@bettercarenetwork.org or visit our website at www.bettercarenetwork.org. 


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