Resources Database

The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the need to strengthen mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) systems and services for children and young people in the East Asia and Pacific region.  Children, adolescents and caregivers already faced significant challenges in accessing the mental health support they needed before the pandemic, with poor mental health - including depression and anxiety - disproportionately affecting many children and youth in the region.  

The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the need to strengthen mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) systems and services for children and young people in the East Asia and Pacific region.  Children, adolescents and caregivers already faced significant challenges in accessing the mental health support they needed before the pandemic, with poor mental health - including depression and anxiety - disproportionately affecting many children and youth in the region.  

The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the need to strengthen mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) systems and services for children and young people in the East Asia and Pacific region.  Children, adolescents and caregivers already faced significant challenges in accessing the mental health support they needed before the pandemic, with poor mental health - including depression and anxiety - disproportionately affecting many children and youth in the region.  

Addressing care in a systemic way with linkages to the wider child protection system is essential as there are large numbers of children at risk of separation, unnecessarily separated or who are unsafe in their families or alternative care. Systemic and scaled change is needed to address the magnitude of this problem. Care reform is under-resourced and there is often resistance to change. A systems approach can unite stakeholders together to advocate for enhanced provision and ensure that limited resources are used effectively.

International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW) has launched Social Dialogue magazine volume 26 on Black Lives Matter: developments in de-colonising social work.  This volume contains 16 articles from Ecuador, Guyana, Uruguay, Papua New Guinea, Italy, UK, Canada, Australia, and Aotearoa/New Zealand, exploring the title “Black lives matter: Developments in decolonising social work”. It is a collective effort from academics, students, practice teachers and social workers across the world.

In November 2020, UNICEF and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) jointly hosted a virtual symposium in order to better understand how children and youth are affected by climate-related migration and displacement and to enhance their visibility in the public policy discourse. Discussions at the symposium highlighted that at present, there is no global policy framework for addressing the needs and rights of children moving in the context of climate change.Where child-related migration policies do exist, they do not consider climate and environmental factors, and where climate c

In recent decades, escalating and protracted conflicts, natural disasters and extreme weather events often exacerbated by climate change, and major health emergencies, such as COVID-19, have resulted in rapid increases in the numbers of people and communities in need of emergency social assistance and support. These crises often compound existing problems of poverty, inequality and social injustice, disproportionately impact women and children, and increase hardships for those already predisposed to vulnerability.

The aim of this guidance document is to provide a framework to support child protection practitioners and policymakers working both inside Ukraine and in host countries to implement responses related to children’s care in the context of Ukraine in line with international standards and good practice on children’s care and the provision of alternative care.

Since its publication in 2016, INSPIRE: seven strategies for ending violence against children has acted as a key global resource for implementing, adapting and monitoring interventions to prevent and respond to violence against children.

The potential for information and communication technology (ICT) to support the delivery of social services, and the possible benefits afforded, have been acknowledged in numerous studies. The many obstacles to the adoption and integration of ICT into social services have also been documented. This paper provides a summary of those issues as the backdrop to the description of a study conducted to understand the adoption of a specific technology (OmMej) in the context of children’s social care in Sweden.

From clan-based politics in the years leading to independence to clan-shaped legislature and clan-oriented cabinets in the civilian governments following independence, military dictatorship and malfeasance dominated 1970s and 1980s Somalia. Early in 1991, the country became swamped in a clan-based civil war that crumbled state structures and the public services they provided. The ensuing lawlessness increased monumentally, making violence and abuse against women, children, minorities, and the vulnerable among the society very rampant.

Decision makers need credible evidence to distribute government funds across sectors. Sectors that are well equipped with compelling evidence and facts as to the public benefits of investment are better positioned to get a greater share of the budget. The sectors with a weaker justification will get the least share of the budget. Maestral outlines steps to secure additional resource allocations for child protection in the new Guidance on Costing Child Protection Policies and Advocating for Increased Investment.

UNICEF’s operational framework aims to help develop programmes across the social ecological model and the mental health continuum of prevention, promotion and treatment to improve the mental health and psychosocial wellbeing of children, adolescents and their caregivers globally. The strategies and approaches included in the framework will help in accelerating actions for children’s, adolescents’ and caregivers’ mental health and psychosocial wellbeing in national and regional development strategies.

The COVID-19 pandemic placed significant pressure on Bangladesh’s social and health systems. Concerned that the pandemic would impact negatively on the health system, the Government of Bangladesh took significant measures to control the spread of COVID-19. These measures included closing all schools and educational institutions, which resulted in over 42 million children without access to education, including children who were already out of school.

Social service workers play a crucial role in helping individuals, families and communities respond to and recover from emergencies. They also help individuals, families and communities build their resilience to withstand future shocks. Yet, they remain largely unrecognized and undervalued. The Global Social Service Workforce Alliance's '2022 State of the Social Service Workforce Report' showcases the important and distinct roles of social service workers across the emergency management cycle and calls for greater recognition of their critical contribution.

The article outlines some drawbacks of research training for social workers in Ukraine. To improve it, one should consider the main characteristics of such training in West European countries, given that they are exemplary in terms of social security. With the help of differential and comparative-typological analysis, the article singles out methodical aspects which social work training in Ukraine lacks and, therefore, suggests relevant recommendations for enhancing research activities of future social workers.

Climate change is a crisis in our midst. This scoping review examines practices to transition away from fossil fuels in the social work literature, to inform social work engagement in climate mitigation and in support of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy) and 13 (Climate Action).

The readiness of newly qualified social workers (NQSWs) for practice appears to be a growing area of research, however, there is little focus on the professional identities of NQSWs, and a lack of relevant literature on the readiness of NQSWs within a South African context. Global research indicates that NQSWs are being prepared in some skills and competencies, however, that they do lack skills and competencies in other regards.

Child protection is the prevention of, and response to, exploitation, abuse, neglect, harmful practices and violence against children, including adolescents. The UNICEF approach in Goal Area 3 (child protection) is guided by human rights principles, norms and standards that are embedded in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its three Optional Protocols. It seeks to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Over the last few years, Social Work Scotland’s members have been reporting increasing concerns that social work workloads have become unmanageable, and that social workers in local authorities and health and social care partnerships are struggling under the weight of their caseloads. This led them to ask: can our workforce realistically work with people in the way that they’re trained to do, and in line with the aims of Scotland’s legislation and policy? How much work is too much for social workers? Where’s the line?