Resources Database

Increasing migration and a high number of refugees and forcibly displaced people cause an accelerated spread of a large diversity of cultures throughout the world. This results in a more diverse group of young people within alternative care settings and a large new target group, namely unaccompanied children. This evolution brings several challenges. Social workers come into contact with target groups of which they have little knowledge. Cultural barriers are experienced, which can jeopardize the quality of care. This puts care workers in an uncertain position.

Accurate data on the extent to which residential homes for children in Ghana are in compliance with national standards for quality of care and case management are lacking. To begin to address this gap, a census of residential homes and an enumeration of the child population were undertaken in 2019, followed by a survey on a representative sample of children living in such homes. Data were gathered on the types and characteristics of all 139 residential homes operating in the country at the time and the demographic profiles and well-being of children living in such facilities.

The NCWWI Communications Guide helps child welfare programs’ initiate or improve their existing communications strategies to build public support, strengthen the workforce, improve partnerships, increase community collaboration, and enhance perceptions. Communication strategies support sustainable systemic change in service of equitable and just outcomes for children, youth, and families. The Guide illustrates:

Today, more than ever, volunteers are on the frontlines of protecting children in their communities. Volunteers work tirelessly in complex humanitarian contexts and often face emotional and physical risks, with little recognition for their efforts.

The Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action's CPHA Frontliner Getting Started Learning Package has been designed to rapidly onboard new team members in the wake of a new emergency or crisis and aims to ensure that frontline workers are introduced to the minimum competencies to work in a safe, effective, accountable, and professional way with children, families, and communities. The learning package has been designed to be delivered in modules through both face-to-face and remote facilitation.

The global care crisis is being exacerbated by the global climate emergency, with interlocking impacts that threaten lives and livelihoods in all parts of the world. These impacts are particularly severe in resource-based economies and make everyday life difficult for people living with scarce resources and low incomes in rural areas of the global South. Climate change intensifies the work involved in caring for people, animals, plants, and places.

This is the first comprehensive book that provides accessible, international knowledge for practitioners, students and academics about social work in health emergencies and spans fields of practice across world regions with particular reference to the COVID-19 pandemic. 　

Ensuring child welfare worker safety is a complex concern. Doing so encompasses not only taking measures to prevent the threat or reality of physical violence, but also promoting psychological and emotional safety, as well as resilience, within the workplace. In order to create a culture and climate that promote child welfare worker safety, agencies need to address all of the parameters of child welfare worker safety in their policies and practices.

The importance of mainstreaming gender into social protection policies and programmes is increasingly recognized. However, evidence on the extent to which this is actually happening remains limited. This report contributes to filling this evidence gap by drawing on the findings of two complementary research projects undertaken by UNICEF Office of Research – Innocenti and UN Women in 2019.

The number of international migrants under 18 is rising, accelerated by complex and fast-evolving economic, demographic, security and environmental drivers. Based on interviews carried out with 1,290 migrant children and young people in Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan, this report helps address the evidence gap on children and young people migrating in the Horn of Africa by providing a better understanding of their protective environments; their access to services and resources; and their perceptions of safety, well-being and trust in authorities and other providers.

În 2021, Changing the Way We Care a lansat o analiză situațională a sistemului de îngrijire a copilului în Republica Moldova. Rezultatul acestei analize sunt 8 rapoarte bazate pe cercetări ample ale partenerilor CTWWC: Copil, Comunitate, Familie (CCF) Moldova, Keystone Human Services International, Moldova și Parteneriate pentru fiecare copil (P4EC). Aceste rapoarte oferă o imagine de ansamblu a situației copiilor vulnerabili și a familiilor acestora din Moldova, atât în contextul dezinstituționalizării, cât și al prevenirii plasării în instituții rezidențiale.

From January to July 2021, Changing the Way We Care in Moldova, a USAID-funded initiative implemented by Catholic Relief Services and Maestral International, together with local partners, Copil, Comunitate, Familie (CCF), Keystone Moldova, and Partnership for Every Child (P4EC) conducted research on key elements of care reform.

Schools can play a critical role in addressing violence against children and other child protection concerns within schools and communities. This role and responsibility can be best fulfilled with the help of on-site support staff, including social service workers.

The study shows that whilst a positive trend in donors’ policy on child and family MHPSS led to a relative increase in funding for the area, the proportion of child and family MHPSS funding as part of wider ODA and private sector funding remains a drop in the ocean compared to the growing needs.

Key findings from the report include:

This report takes stock of UNICEF’s work to address online child sexual exploitation and abuse. It is intended for policymakers and practitioners to inform policy and practice in this field. Based primarily on analysis of survey responses from 29 UNICEF country offices, the report sets out the current level of implementation of the WeProtect Model National Response, gaps and challenges in low- and middle-income countries, and promising practices and lessons learned.

This study examined the relationships between COVID-related stress, mental health and professional burnout in the infant and early child mental health (IECMH) workforce and examined reflective supervision and consultation (RSC) as a potential protective factor in the context of COVID-related stress. Participants included 123 adults (n = 121 female, modal age range 30–39 years) in the TN IECMH workforce (mean years of experience = 13.6 years) surveyed in June/July 2020.

Understanding the risks and responses to children’s caregiving environment during COVID-19 remains limited. This is especially the case in humanitarian settings. This brief, therefore, aims to report what is known so far during the pandemic. The brief focuses on strategies to strengthen the caregiving environment through family- and community-based approaches. It also offers a series of case studies from various humanitarian and emergency contexts.

Conflict, displacement, and COVID-19 have increased demands for mental health services – and made them very hard to deliver. The publication explores the potential of remote service provision.

The publication builds on qualitative research conducted by colleagues at the Airbel Impact Lab of the International Rescue Committee and validated through participatory consultations with clients, practitioners, and management staff of organisations in the Middle East and globally.

Changing the Way We CareSM (CTWWC) is committed to bold and highest quality child protection and safeguarding in all of its work. Within the initiative, they sought to ensure that children and young people at risk of or outside of family care are safeguarded.