A parliamentary standing committee has expressed serious concern over the decline in the number of children coming to adoption agencies over the years, saying it points to trafficking or a thriving illegal child adoption market.

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, on the basis of information obtained from 15 participants interviewed through semi-structured interviews in this qualitative study. Understanding their views, perceptions and experiences provides vital information to develop social work practices.

Children First: Journal on Children's Lives is a bi-annual and peer-reviewed journal, launched by Delhi Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) with the aim of deepening and broadening the discourse on child rights by providing a platform to all persons who are engaged with
the rights of children in varied capacities to share their learnings, views and experiences in this context. This issue 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.

India Alternative Care Network is pleased to invite you for the launch of 'Every Child's Right to Family Life: An Introduction to Family Strengthening and Alternative Care in India' on July 20.

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 policy makers and programme managers.

Join us on July 13 for a free webinar to launch and discuss a landmark collaborative report – Insights Into the World of Privatized Faith-Based Residential Care Facilities in Myanmar. Learn about the report’s findings and take part in a Q&A with the report’s lead researcher and other key contributors.

Three months since his last update to the UN rights forum in Geneva, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Thomas Andrews, said that he’d met youngsters who’d fled the country after suffering “irreparable harm”.

This report maps the family strengthening and alternative care practices across 14 organisations and provides an overview into a number of elements including nature of care, target, coverage, intervention, the longevity of care, linkage to the child protection system, access to sponsorship provided by the State, challenges in implementing the program, among other aspects.

At a parliament meeting on June 15, Nepal’s Law and Justice Minister Govinda Bandi announced that the government is preparing to lower the legal age of marriage.

There is evidence that children in residential care institutions (RCI) have higher rates of psychological problems, suicide and criminal behaviour. There is only one study in Sri Lanka which has examined the psychological well-being of children in RCIs. This study aims to provide further evidence to formulate policies related to the mental health of institutionalized children in the local context.