Resources Database

Several months into the COVID-19 crisis, the questions above remain largely unanswered. However, evidence is beginning to emerge that points to increased risks for children with disabilities as well as reduced access to services. Understanding such risks and assessing the socioeconomic impact of the pandemic are key to shaping a response that takes into account the needs of all children.

High-income countries have very limited experience of dealing with health crises, having their health and human services stretched beyond capacity, restricting the travel of their populations or having to close workplaces and schools – let alone experience of all of these things combined. These unique conditions create new and serious challenges for the economies and societies of all high-income countries. As these challenges evolve, children – as dependents – are among those at greatest risk of seeing their living standards fall and their personal well-being decline.

If children are to be at the heart of the COVID-19 response and recovery plans, care and caregivers must be prioritized as a matter of urgency. This discussion paper outlines the extraordinary challenges facing children and families across the globe, and the steps that can be taken to ensure their inclusion in COVID-19 recovery plans.

This Training Manual for Caregivers of Children with disabilities has been developed to equip caregivers of children with disabilities (which include biological parents, foster parents, adoptive parents, caregivers in institutions, caregivers in day care centers, healthcare providers, teachers of special needs schools, etc.) with the needed knowledge and skill in order for them to be able to provide the required quality of care for the children for them to grow and develop well and become productive in society despite their disabilities.

The Home Parenting Education and Support (HoPES) programme is a new intensive 8-week home-visiting intervention supporting the preservation and reunification of families with young children (aged 0–4 years) receiving child protection services following child abuse and/or neglect in Australia. This study aimed to review the program, how it was supporting families, major challenges and generate evidence to inform further development of a trauma informed and culturally sensitive intervention.

This rapid evidence assessment synthesized findings from 89 studies of interventions to protect children on the move to consolidate key findings while highlighting evidence gaps and data needs. The findings and suggestions are particularly relevant for policymakers and those working in social welfare.

This study examined deinstitutionalisation in Thailand. Qualitative interviews were conducted with a total of 27 child welfare practitioners and policy actors to explore their perceptions of Thai alternative care provision. Findings show that participants perceive deinstitutionalisation as a complex policy challenge. Some felt that the institutions were necessary in order to meet demand, while others felt that cultural barriers prevent a shift to family-based approaches, such as foster care.

This article considers the potential efficacy of the PSW model in strengthening child protection at community level in Uganda. The findings suggest that the model has considerable potential to strengthen community‐level protection of children in circumstances in which the operation of formal systems is limited by resource constraints and outside interventions may struggle to gain understanding and acceptance within communities.

This paper aims to suggest a framework for risk and protective factors that need to be considered in child protection in its various domains of research, policy, and practice during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Limited evidence exists of the effectiveness of combining cash transfers and family strengthening interventions in developing country contexts. This study provides evidence from an evaluation of a bespoke family strengthening intervention for Child Support Grant beneficiaries in 10 urban communities in Johannesburg, South Africa. The intervention improved child-caregiver and family relations; strengthened networks of social support and caregiver engagement in schooling and enhanced parenting and financial capabilities.

This article explores children’s views and experiences of participation within the context of child protection assessment practice. The findings of this study enable child protection workers as well as other professionals to learn from children what is needed to better engage children to participate in matters affecting them. A small-scale study included 14 children registered as children in need of assistance in child protective services from one region in Estonia through in-depth semi-structured interviews.

This working paper provides a concise narrative behind the graphic representation of the Gender-Responsive Age-Sensitive Social Protection (GRASSP) conceptual framework. The framework delineates the conceptual linkages between gender (including gender risks, vulnerabilities, discrimination and inequalities, multidimensional deprivations affecting women and girls), and social protection.

This policy paper seeks to lay out key arguments for close collaboration across Social Protection and Child Protection sectors to address the socio-economic impact of COVID-19 on children and families towards reduction of adverse Child Protection outcomes. Children urgently need sustainably financed social protection systems linked to properly resourced child protection services.

Although the limitations of promoting children’s participation during COVID-19 are strong, child rights and child protection organizations that serve children should also have an obligation to engage with children. This engagement, which is likely to begin as consultation, will help organizations understand children’s realities and adapt their programs, services, and supports to their expressed needs.

Improving social conditions remains critical to improving health outcomes, and integrating social care into health care delivery is more relevant than ever in the context of the pandemic and increased strains placed on the U.S. health care system. The report and its related products ultimately aim to help improve health and health equity, during COVID-19 and beyond.

This guide is intended as a good practice guide for professionals placing children from local authority care with family members abroad.

Social workers are working at all levels - macro, mezzo, and micro - and adjusting their practices by temporarily discontinuing face-to-face services and moving to remote contact with clients, while maintaining the essential human relationships between providers and clients. This article highlights how they are continuing to provide mental health/psychosocial support, medical social work, community sensitization, relief and advocacy, and the challenges they face.

This resource is a compilation of articles on topics related to early childhood development during COVID-19. The 'Scaling' section explores the implementation of diverse early childhood policies and programmes in different parts of the world and the challenges that must be considered when working at scale. This section also highlights the importance of incorporating mental health as a priority policy in early childhood health and care systems.

There has recently been increased interest in the potential for formal and informal networks to aid interventions with biologic families in helping them achieve reunification in the context of the child protection system. When group support is provided to families, the creation of a network of social support seems to be a consequence. The article analyzes the conceptualization of social support in order to create social support networks and the benefits on the intervention with families in the framework of the child protection system through a systematic review.

This follow up report reviews 28 new studies on violence against women and children during COVID-19 and details some of the challenges providers face in providing services to those affected and recommends that additional attention and reporting on ethics is needed to ensure a ‘do no harm’ approach.