July/August 2022
Latest Updates on Children's Care

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.
Ukraine Children’s Care Group and Learning Events
Following the onset of the crisis in Ukraine and due to the significant care issues affecting children impacted by the conflict and displacement, the Global Collaborative Platform supported by the Better Care Network established a temporary global inter-agency group focused on children’s care in the context of the Ukraine crisis – the Ukraine Children’s Care Group. The group is convened by members of the Global Collaborative Platform with the purpose of facilitating practical coordination and collaboration amongst
development and humanitarian care actors supporting or operating in Ukraine and the regional response in terms of guidance, tools and joint advocacy as needed. 

Under the auspices of the Ukraine Children’s Care Group, two learning events were held in July and September focused on practitioners, technical advisors, and policymakers with the aim to hear from experts working in the care and protection of children in Ukraine and host countries.

This first event was held on July 7th and was co-facilitated by the Better Care Network and Disability Rights International. A brief report and links to the recordings can be found here.

The second event was held on September 7th in collaboration with HDPI. The event was focused on better understanding the foster care systems and services in Ukraine and neighbouring countries hosting Ukrainian refugee children, specifically Poland, Romania, and Moldova. The recordings and presentations can be found here.
Related Topic: Ukraine Response

This training has been designed for social workers in Moldova who are working with foster families caring for unaccompanied and separated children and adolescents who have fled the crisis in Ukraine.


Related:


Related Topic: Ukraine Response
The Better Care Network will continue to share tools, guidance, information, and other resources regarding children's care and protection during the COVID-19 pandemic as practitioners, policymakers, and other key stakeholders work to respond to the needs of children and families impacted by this crisis. For more resources on COVID-19 and children's care, visit the growing collection of documents in the BCN COVID-19 Resource Center.

This report updates the authors' previous findings to provide the most current estimates of COVID-19 associated orphanhood and caregiver loss during the first 26 months of the pandemic (March 1, 2020 – May 1, 2022).

Related:



This issue of the Children First: Journal on Children's Lives focuses on the continued impact on children in the Indian context in the second year of the pandemic and the disruptions caused in the children's lives. This is one of the articles in the latest issue.

Understanding the Situation

This study conducted in Romanian institutions found that institutional rearing negatively impacts the development of children's social skills and executive functions. However, little is known about whether childhood social skills mediate the effects of the foster care intervention and foster caregiving quality following early institutional rearing on EF and social skills in adolescence.


The objective of this article is to identify those situations where the families of fostered unaccompanied migrant children are made visible in order to favor the incorporation of these families into the pathway planning. The fieldwork was carried out in Spain and involved working groups with specialized professionals.

Related Topic: Children and Migration

Debates exist regarding whether foster youth should be asked about their placement preferences following removal, with only youth aged 12 years and older at times assumed legally competent to provide input. This US-based study evaluated whether placement-related factors known to predict youth's well-being also shape their placement preferences and whether preferences differ between youth below and above the age at which they are considered legally competent to provide input.

Related Topic: Foster Care

This report’s findings on the prevalence of motherhood in childhood across the globe and repeat adolescent childbearing highlight that more needs to be done to design, implement and evaluate programmes that target the youngest starters and girls at risk of rapid and repeat adolescent births. Child mothers in six countries across four continents shared their own stories of very early motherhood.

Related Topic: Parenting Support

This study aimed to synthesize existing qualitative UK evidence on the known safeguarding risks and poorer outcomes for disabled children and young people who are at risk of, or who have experienced abuse. This study focused on research, which sought the views of disabled children and young people, parents/carers and practitioners.


In the present report, the Special Representative reviews actions she has taken at the global, regional and national levels to fulfill her mandate and provides an overview of the results achieved.  


The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore the experience of birth children of foster parents. The study examines the retrospective narratives of 14 Israeli adults, ages 18–38, whose families fostered a child for at least one year in the context of the Israeli foster care system.

Related Topic: Foster Care

This research highlights the importance of involving parents and their children in improving parenting skills and the reunification process by implementing parental education programs through a unique work plan. This study examined the experiences of families in the Spanish Child Protection System.

Related Topic: Parenting Support

Overseas Filipino workers often migrate to enable their families to climb the socioeconomic ladder. Despite their financial contribution, labour migration often separates children from their parents during their most formative years of growth, threatening healthy development. This scoping review was conducted to identify the health outcomes of left behind children in the Philippines and health-related interventions.

Related Topic: Children and Migration

Previous research has focused primarily on the “leaving care” phase and related challenges in the transition to independent living. This paper is the first to analyze the socio-economic status and living situation of care leavers between the ages of 20–29 in Austria.


There is a gap in care leaving literature about the extent to which the labelling and stereotyping of care leavers during their time in residential care facilities affects their transitions into adulthood. This paper presents an analysis of interviews conducted with care leavers from six childcare facilities in Zimbabwe.

Policies, Standards, and Guidelines

These guidelines complement the Committee’s general comment No. 5 (2017) and its guidelines on the right to liberty and security of persons with disabilities. They are intended to guide and support States parties, in their efforts to realize the right of persons with disabilities to live independently and be included in the community, and to be the basis for planning deinstitutionalization processes and prevention of institutionalization.

Related Topic: UN Advocacy

This is the CRC Committee’s report to the 77th session of the UN General Assembly which includes a section on the Day of General Discussion (DGD) on children’s rights and alternative care and the recommendations emanating from that process.

In the present report, the UN Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material, describes the activities undertaken in relation to the discharge of her mandate since her previous report to the United Nations General Assembly. She also presents a thematic study on addressing the vulnerabilities of children to sale and sexual exploitation within the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Learning from Practice

The Returning to Original Vision case story demonstrates reunification of children with disabilities as a critical step in transition. It also highlights the challenges of maintaining organizational vision within a process of transforming services.


This is the first monthly update of the Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Learning Platform published in July 2022. 

To subscribe to receive these monthly updates, join here.
 

This case story is meant to illustrate transition, the actors involved, the challenges and the success factors; recognizing that each transition is an individual process with different starting points, different dynamics and different evolutions.

The case story complements the Phases of Transition Interactive Diagram by illustrating stages of change. 


This article advances a greater understanding of the views, perceptions and experiences of caregivers caring for abandoned infants and toddlers living in institutional care in South Africa. Understanding their views, perceptions and experiences provides vital information to develop social work practices.


The story of Identity Mission tells how a program focused on supporting vulnerable children by providing family-based care solutions alongside the local church came to be and what the challenges were to creating a mission focused on family. It is the story of one person’s own transition.

Related Topic: Foster Care

This report provides a summary of the learning exchange that took place around family-based care (family strengthening, foster care, specialized group care) in Udaipur, Rajasthan, India on August 24 - 28, 2022.

Related Topic: Strengthening Family Care


In this video, Anne Kinuthia, shares how social work practitioners from Kivuli, a residential care service provider in Kenya, used a simple, fun, and non-threatening activity called My Say to help children, families and staff, surface and process their emotions during the organization’s transition.


This video is part of a series of practitioner learning videos from Kenya.

For more practitioner learning videos, watch our Cambodia and Uganda series.

In this video, Kinnected Myanmar Senior Social Worker, Htoo Say, describes the nature of patron-client relationships and gives examples of how they influence the participation of directors and families in the reintegration process. In addition, she shares critical insights into how the Kinnected Myanmar social workers learnt to navigate these relationships to facilitate children’s reintegration and promote their best interests.



This webinar is the eleventh in the Transforming Children's Care Webinar Series and was co-hosted with UNICEF. In 2021, UNICEF launched its latest approach to Child Protection Systems Strengthening (CPSS), together with benchmarks for measuring the CPSS work, and high impact CPSS interventions.


The Task Force on Foster Care of the Transforming Children's Care Global Collaborative Platform held the fourth webinar in the spotlight series on Foster Care Practice on 18 August 2022. Speakers from Mothers' Choice, Hong Kong and the International Parent Advocacy Network participated in the webinar.


This webinar provides nine lessons learned on care reform from the COVID-19 pandemic with examples from Malawi, Uganda and Kenya.

Related Topic: COVID 19

Why is it so important to consider mental health and emotional well-being in child care and child protection? How can we address mental health needs in a non-clinical environment? What are some of the tried and tested approaches to supporting the mental health of vulnerable children?

Related Topic: Psychosocial Support

This webinar shares the process that Family for Every Child is using to facilitate the development of global inter-agency guidance on Kinship Care, aimed at policymakers and programme managers.

Related Topic: Kinship Care

The India Alternative Care Network (IACN) hosted a webinar titled 'Locating Foster Care in the Realm of Child Protection and Alternative Care for Children' in collaboration with CERI and Foster Care Society.

Related Topic: Foster Care

This side event at the 15th session of the Conference of States Parties to the CRPD (COSP15) addressed the issue of increasing segregation of persons with disabilities in institutions as a result of the war in Ukraine, despite lessons learned during COVID. It focused on the role of the funders in the humanitarian response and the post-war recovery, urging for full compliance with the UN CRPD and ensuring that no funding goes towards institutionalisation of persons with disabilities.

Mohamed Daghar - Institute for Security Studies (ISS) 11 Aug 2022
Caitlin Dickerson - The Atlantic 07 Aug 2022
Michael Sheen - BBC Wales Investigates 04 Jul 2022

29 September 2022
29 September 2022
29 September 2022
1 October 2022
8 November 2022
31 December 2022
30 September 2022
30 September 2022
3 October 2022
31 October 2022
31 October 2022
31 December 2022
31 December 2022
Shift the Mindset, the Model, and Money Towards Family Reunification and Strengthening
Ongoing
Ongoing
GENERAL INFORMATION
Newsletter participants, currently 4,756 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. 

Thank you!

Better Care Network | 521 West 146th Street P.O. Box 214, New York, NY 10031 - USA