Resources Database

The COVID-19 pandemic has upended systems of support, including schools and childcare, shining a spotlight on the importance of quality care for children and those who provide it – the invisible backbone holding up strong and resilient families, communities, and economies. It is essential work, critical to upholding child rights, which has been overlooked and undervalued for far too long. 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 document presents a set of minimum standards of care, which it is recommended that residential care facilities strive to adopt, particularly those residential care facilities engaged with or receiving support from Catholic Relief Services. The standards are designed to be applicable to a variety of residential care settings and are recommended to be used to promote care practices and approaches that contribute to positive child well-being.

The Minimum Standards for the Care of Children in Residential Care Facilities guidance document includes:

This document represents the work of the Global Social Service Workforce Alliance Case Management Interest Group.

This results matrix, developing in collaboration with UNICEF, is meant to guide the measurement of progress toward strengthening the social service workforce.

This is a specialized online training “on child protection during emergencies” for the for-child protection & social welfare professionals in the local level. The training was developed in the framework of the project “Emergency and recovery support for vulnerable children and families affected by the COVID-19 pandemic situation in Albania” funded by the European Union. 

This online course is dedicated to teachers, psychologists and social workers at schools to provide psychosocial support for children affected by COVID-19. It was developed in the framework of the project “Emergency and recovery support for vulnerable children and families affected by the COVID-19 pandemic situation in Albania” funded by the European Union. 

The National Association of Child Care Workers (NACCW) developed the Isibindi “Circles of Care” model in 2001 as a response to the large number of orphans and vulnerable children and youth (OVCY) in South Africa. At the core of the model is the development of a skilled cadre of child and youth care workers (CYCWs) to provide a range of services to OVCY in their communities.

This report is a presentation of an evaluation study that provides a qualitative understanding of the family strengthening approach that underlies the Isibindi model. It describes how the Isibindi approach contributes to the outcomes related to wellbeing indicators, while at the same time documenting what Isibindi family strengthening approach involves.

The Global Declaration on Justice With Children is a culmination of the discussions held before and during the 2021 World Congress on Justice With Children that gathered over 4,800 intergenerational participants from over 100 countries from 15-20 November 2021 through an online platform, with the theme of “Ensuring access to justice for all children: towards non-discriminatory and inclusive child justice systems”.

Mental Health and Psychosocial (MHPSS) approaches and interventions have always been important for Terres des hommes and embedded in their programming. They have adopted a framework presented to respond better to the contexts in which they work. 

This participants handbook has come into being by care leavers for care leavers. It has been developed based on the myriad of challenges shared and experienced by care leavers, hoping with the hope that it will support others leaving care. This handbook contains materials you can use during and after following the training sessions. It contains:

This participants handbook has come into being by care leavers for care leavers. It has been developed based on the myriad of challenges shared and experienced by care leavers, hoping with the hope that it will support others leaving care. This handbook contains materials you can use during and after following the training sessions. It contains:

Youth who grew up in care can face challenges that are often different from the challenges faced by other young people. They often leave care without any definite or tangible support from the government, little-to-no support from the residential care facility (called "charitable children's institution" in Kenya) they are leaving, and sometimes limited connections to family or community. This series of resources are designed by care leavers for care leavers to help equip youth for life outside of care, strengthen coping strategies, foster safety nets and community networks.

This Facilitator's Guide is based on the 10 to 13 guidebook and 18 to 25 guidebook.

Youth who grew up in care can face challenges that are often different from the challenges faced by other young people. They often leave care without any definite or tangible support from the government, little-to-no support from the residential care facility (called "charitable children's institution" in Kenya) they are leaving, and sometimes limited connections to family or community. This series of resources are designed by care leavers for care leavers to help equip youth for life outside of care, strengthen coping strategies, foster safety nets and community networks.

The IFSW Africa Region Ubuntu social work Hybrid conference 2021 with the theme: ‘Towards Ubuntu and Sustainable development: Social Work Position in Achieving SDGs’ was held in Rwanda from 23rd to 26th November 2021. The discussions resulted in this advocacy policy brief on social work regulation/legislation. The brief focuses on the problem of lack of legislation and recognition of social work as a profession in Africa.

In order to understand the issues faced by the children and young people who get in touch with child helplines, Child Helpline International surveys their members around the world each and every year to gather information about the contacts they receive. This unique and vital data gives an insight into the ways in which children and young people experience the systems that are designed to protect them, the issues that matter to them, and the gaps in protective services.

The global crisis of COVID-19 is deepening pre-existing inequalities, exposing the extent of exclusion and highlighting that work on disability inclusion is imperative. People with disabilities—one billion people— are one of the most excluded groups in our society and are among the hardest hit in this crisis in terms of fatalities. Even under normal circumstances, persons with disabilities are less likely to access health care, education, employment and to participate in the community.

It is estimated that at least 5.4 million children live in institutions worldwide. Yet over 80% of these have at least one living parent. Research has shown the harm of orphanage care on children’s health, development and wellbeing and how orphanage volunteering is working to perpetuate these institutional systems which separate children from their families and communities. There is now a global movement to end both practices.

These key policy recommendations were published as part of the "Put Children First: End Orphanage Care" campaign.

Gatekeeping es el término que describe el mecanismo, proceso o pasos específicos involucrados en la toma de decisiones relacionadas con el cuidado de las niñas, niños y adolescentes (NNA) donde exista la posibilidad de riesgo de separación familiar, o pérdida del cuidado parental.  Esta hoja informativa de gatekeeping, esta dirigida a aquellos que participan en las decisiones de cuidado, de los NNA, incluidos las familias; los padres o cuidadores; actores /instituciones gubernamentales, organizaciones de la sociedad civil, los profesionales que trabajan