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Application of scientific findings to effective practice and informed policymaking is an aspiration for much research in the biomedical, behavioural, and developmental sciences. But too often translations of science to practice are conceptually narrow, ethically underspecified, and developed quickly as salves to an urgent problem. For developmental science, widely implemented parenting interventions are prime examples of technical translations from knowledge about the causes of children’s mental distress. Aiming to support family relationships and facilitate adaptive child development, these…
This manual aims to help countries and their national statistical systems to improve the collection, analysis, sharing and use of data on children on the move. It provides analytical guidance to national statistical authorities and relevant actors on how to acquire or enhance the appropriate capacity to collect data on migrant and displaced children, in compliance with the United Nations’ Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics.
It also shares several country experiences regarding migration data flows and official statistics. Reliable data and official statistics are key to…
Abstract:
Background
Approximately one in ten children globally live with kinship caregivers—relatives and family friends who step in to care for a child when parents are unable to do so. When families take on the role of informal kinship care—care of a child outside of the child welfare system—they often do so without financial assistance and advice in navigating the systems of support available to them. This is the unique role of kinship navigator programs in the U.S: to provide kinship caregivers a single point of entry for connecting to needed resources such as financial, health,…
Abstract:
This mixed-methods systematic review asks what is known about children’s perspectives on contact with birth parents when in out-of-home care. To address this question 37 studies were coded to identify children’s experiences and thoughts regarding contact with their parents. Data synthesis was performed in three stages. The frequency of the identified factors across all included research was determined and qualitative and quantitative syntheses were performed.
The results reveal that children hold thoughts and views on several aspects of contact with their birth…
Abstract:
New research shows that children exposed to early psychosocial deprivation benefit substantially from family-based care. The results were presented by senior author Kathryn L. Humphreys, PhD, at the 2023 annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association. Results of research from the Bucharest Early Intervention Project, the first randomized controlled trial of foster care as an alternative to institutional (orphanage) care, showed that the positive effects of foster care last more than two decades.
Abstract:
Individuals with experiences of alternative care (AC; i.e., out-of-home care and institutional care) are at high risk for various mental health and relational problems stemming from exposure to serious attachment disruptions, loss, and complex trauma. Yet, despite the interpersonal context of their significant adversities, surprisingly there is scant research explicitly focusing on callousness/unemotionality (e.g., lack of guilt, callous disregard for others) in this population.
This paper provides the first conceptual model for, and systematic scoping review of,…
Objective:
The Bucharest Early Intervention Project is the first randomized controlled trial of foster care as an alternative to institutional care. The authors synthesized data from nearly 20 years of assessments of the trial to determine the overall intervention effect size across time points and developmental domains. The goal was to quantify the overall effect of the foster care intervention on children’s outcomes and examine sources of variation in this effect, including domain, age, and sex assigned at birth.
Methods:
An intent-to-treat approach was used to examine the causal…
During the 54th session of the UN Statistical Commission, the Global MICS team launched MICS 7 with several new initiatives such as MICS Plus, geocoding, and integration with administrative data sources.
The program now includes up to 40 SDG indicators, covering almost 85% of UNICEF's Strategic Plan household survey-based indicators.
The launch event featured several speakers, including:
- Vidhya Ganesh, Director DAPM at UNICEF, and experts such as
- Dr. Shahnaz Arefin, Secretary of Statistics and Informatics Division (SID) of the Planning Ministry in Bangladesh,…
Summary
This report presents the findings from a mixed-methods evaluation of peer parental advocacy (PPA) in the London Borough of Camden. PPA is a form of peer advocacy whereby parents with lived experience of child protection support other parents to navigate and engage with the process. Research evidence suggests that parents can find the child protection system to be difficult, stigmatising and authoritarian. Proponents of PPA suggest that it has the potential to promote shared decision-making, improve relationships between social services professionals and families, and enable…
This is a recording of a UNICEF webinar presenting the launch of a global database of children in residential care on December 14, 2022.
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