The Better Care Network (BCN) is recruiting for the position of Senior Technical Adviser. The BCN Senior Technical Adviser will work in close coordination with, and under the supervision of, the BCN Director and will take the leading role in the provision of technical advice for BCN and the development of research, technical briefs and policy documents as well as reviews of practice. The Senior Technical Adviser will also take a leading role on specific projects and representational and liaison activities, as agreed by the BCN Director, including inter-agency working groups, advisory panels and joint initiatives. The responsibilities of this position include knowledge development and management, technical assistance and development, outreach and partnership building, and other activities.

The First Regional Expert Consultation on Violence against Children and Care takes place in Latin America and the Caribbean
The Government of Brazil and the Global Movement for Children in Latin America and Caribbean (MMI LAC), hosted a regional Expert Consultation on Violence against Children and Care prior to the 21st Pan American Child and Adolescent Congress. 

From a Whisper to a Shout: A Call to End Violence Against Children in Alternative Care 

This report from SOS Children's Villages and the University of Bedfordshire provides reviews and assessments of the implementation of the Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children in 21 countries around the world. 

The African Report on Violence Against Children

This report, from the African Child Policy Forum, is aimed at informing and accelerating pan-African, regional and national efforts to prevent and respond to violence against children, including violence against children in alternative care. 

Keeping Children Safe: Allegations Concerning the Abuse or Neglect of Children in Care

This study, from the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) in the UK, focuses on those children in alternative care who experience abuse or neglect at the hands of their caretakers or guardians who are responsible for ensuring their wellbeing.

Hidden in Plain Sight: A Statistical Analysis of Violence Against Children 

This report from UNICEF highlights the prevalence of different forms of violence against children. It is based on global figures and data from 190 countries and includes a special panel on violence against children in institutional care.
 

Ending Violence Against Children: Six Strategies for Action

This report from UNICEF is aimed at outlining strategies for preventing and responding to violence in the lives of children. The report is intended for policy-makers and decision-makers who can carry out these strategies.

Essentials for Childhood: Steps to Create Safe, Stable, Nurturing Relationships and Environments

This guide from the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control provides a series of strategies that communities in the United States can consider to promote positive relationships and environments that help children grow up to be healthy and productive citizens. Also read the supplemental document, Promoting Positive Community Norms and the accompanying factsheets: Child Maltreatment: Facts at a Glance and Understanding Child Maltreatment here.
 

Integrating Early Childhood Development and Violence Prevention A Landscape Analysis: Networks, Campaigns, Movements, and Initiatives

This review aims at gaining a better understanding of the landscape of, and support efforts by, the Early Childhood Development and Violence Prevention communities through identifying networks (including the Better Care Network), campaigns, movements, and initiatives that address violence against children and family strengthening.
 

Global Status Report on Violence Prevention 2014

This report from the World Health Organization provides an overview of the progress countries have made in implementing the recommendations set out in the World Report on Violence and Health in 2002. 

Measuring Violence Against Children - Inventory and Assessment of Quantitative Studies

This report presents the findings from the Child Protection Monitoring and Evaluation Reference Group's review of data-collection activities in primarily low and middle-income countries. It includes an assessment of a study whose target group included children in institutional care and children living on the streets.
 

Digitally Enhanced Child Protection: How New Technology Can Prevent Violence Against Children in the Global South

This Strategic Paper, from the Igarapé Institute, reviews emerging capabilities of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to prevent violence against children in the Global South. The paper includes findings on the use of technology in family tracing related to children separated from their families during emergencies.

Fearing Wrong: Why What Doesn't Scare Us Should

This report, from Ipsos Reid and World Vision, presents the findings from a study on perceptions and public opinion on violence against children around the world.

Ending Legalised Violence Against Children - Global Progress to December 2014

This report, from the Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children, provides a global overview of country policies regarding corporal punishment of children, including policies on corporal punishment in alternative care settings.

SHAME ON U.S. - Failings by All Three Branches of Our Federal Government Leave Abused and Neglected Children Vulnerable to Further Harm

This study, produced by the Children's Advocacy Institute at the San Diego School of Law, examines the activities of the federal government of the United States in regards to enacting and enforcing child welfare laws and ensuring that individual states are complying with minimum federal standards for child protection.

The Science of Early Adversity: Is There a Role for Large Institutions in the Care of Vulnerable Children?

This review discusses the worldwide phenomenon of child institutionalisation and assesses scientific evidence on the developmental effects of early institutional care.

Going Home: Children's Reintegration in Mexico, Moldova, and Nepal
This report from Family for Every Child and partners summarises research on children's reintegration that took place in Mexico, Moldova and Nepal from 2011 to 2014. 

Treated Worse than Animals: Abuses against Women and Girls with Psychosocial or Intellectual Disabilities in Institutions in India
This report documents the involuntary admission and arbitrary detention of women and girls with mental health disabilities in mental hospitals and residential care institutions across India. 

Grandmothers and Children's Schooling in 33 Sub-Saharan African Countries

This study examines the effect of the presence of a grandmother in the household on the child in 33 Sub-Saharan African countries. The study focuses on the effect the grandmother's presence has on the child's educational participation, considering a range of circumstances.
  

Building Happy Families: Impact Evaluation of a Parenting and Family Skills Intervention for Migrant and Displaced Burmese Families in Thailand

This report presents findings from the impact evaluation of a parenting and family skills intervention called the Happy Families Program which was implemented by the IRC from 2011 to 2013. Also read the Research Brief here.
 

Parents Make the Difference: Findings from a Randomized Impact Evaluation of a Parenting Program in Rural Liberia

This report presents the findings from an evaluation of the "Parents Make a Difference" program, conducted by the International Rescue Committee and research partners at Duke University. The Parents Make a Difference program is an intervention that serves families in post-conflict, Lofa County, Liberia. Also read the Research Brief here.

This Review, commissioned by UNICEF Bulgaria, is aimed at informing the recommendations for the Bulgarian Government's Action Plan for the implementation of the National Strategy 'Vision for De-institutionalisation of Children in Bulgaria.'

Executive Summary of the International Forum on Intercountry Adoption and Global Surrogacy

This executive summary is the first document in a series of six reports, from the International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University (ISS), about the International Forum on Intercountry Adoption and Global Surrogacy, held in August 2014. One of the six reports, Force, Fraud, and Coercion Bridging from Knowledge of Intercountry Adoption to Global Surrogacy, focuses on issues of exploitation and human trafficking related to intercountry adoption and global surrogacy.

Enumerating Street Children

This report from Retrak provides information on how to best count and develop estimates of the number of street-connected children in a particular area.

Fostering Success in Education: National Factsheet on the Educational Outcomes of Children in Foster Care

This report from the National Working Group on Foster Care and Education provides statistical and demographic data on the education of children in foster care in the United States and highlights promising programs around the country that promote positive educational outcomes for children in foster care.

Situation Analysis of Child Poverty and Deprivation in Uganda
This report, commissioned by the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development of Uganda and supported by UNICEF, presents findings from an analysis on child poverty in Uganda, undertaken by the Economic Policy Research Centre.

Alternative Care for Children in Uganda

This simple resource from the Ministry of Gender Labour and Social Development in Uganda, in consultation with civil society, outlines a continuum of care framework for responding to vulnerable children. 

Understanding Vulnerability: a Study on Situations that Affect Family Separation and the Lives of Children in and out of Family Care

This report presents analysis and key findings from a study aimed at fully understanding the situations of children in Indonesia that may lead to family separation.

Youth in Group Home Care: Youth Characteristics and Predictors of Later Functioning

This paper presents the findings of an exploratory research study of foster care youth residing in group homes in a mid-Atlantic state in the USA.

The 'Being and Doing' Side of Our Behavior: Family Well-Being in a Time of Change
This brief paper from the International Federation for Family Development (IFFD), asks the question: "what are the tools to measure the effectiveness of government policies in promoting the totality of family well-being?" 

'Staying Put' for Young People in Residential Care: A Scoping Exercise 

This report explores options for young people aging out of residential care ("care leavers") in the UK and the potential challenges and costs of effective implementation of those options. 

Approaching Outreach Work
In this paper, Retrak outlines its approach to conducting outreach work with children living and working on the streets in East Africa, particularly Ethiopia and Uganda.

Somebody's Children or Nobody's Children? How the Sociological Perspective Could Enliven Research on Foster Care

This review takes a three-pronged approach to showing why the dearth of sociological research focused on children in foster care in the United States is problematic.  

Looked-After Children and Young People 
The aim of this guidance is to improve quality of life of looked-after children and young people in England, including their physical health, and social, educational and emotional wellbeing. It focuses on and encourages organisations, professionals and carers to work together to deliver high quality care, stable placements and nurturing relationships for looked-after children and young people.

Researching the Linkages Between Social Protection and Children's Care in Ghana: LEAP and its Effects on Child Well-being, Care and Family Cohesion 

This report presents the research study conducted by Family for Every Child and the Centre for Social Protection (CSP) at the Institute for Development Studies (IDS) in the UK, undertaken in three different countries in Sub-Saharan Africa: Ghana, Rwanda and South Africa.

Reforming Child Institutional Care in the Post-Soviet Bloc: The Potential Role of Family-Based Empowerment Strategies

Through a desk review of peer reviewed journal and "grey" literature published in English and Russian languages, this paper provides a review of current deinstitutionalization efforts in the region, identifies potential challenges, describes the need for economic empowerment interventions, and outlines directions for future research.