National Child Protection Systems Research Articles

Child protection and prevention of violence against them. The role of international and national organizations

National child protection systems are established to protect children against violence. They must be guided by child protection policies, as well as have reporting mechanisms to support the exchange of good practices in combating violence against children. To come up with legislative proposals to combat violence against children and to protect them. Society also has an important role, being educated to act in the promotion and protection of the rights of children under the age of 18, to support and encourage the respect and promotion of children’s rights. No less important is the development by strengthening the integrated child protection systems as effectively as possible, which will encourage all the relevant authorities and services for a better collaboration, in a system where the child is placed at the center of concerns. The rights of children in conflict with the law as perpetrators, victims or witnesses of crimes are not fully realized, and efforts to reintegrate them into a normal environment still require a lot of work.

Building a coordinated response to prevent and respond to Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) in Europe: The Tutor of Resilience program

Over the last decades, EU institutions have pushed Member States towards substantial review of National child protection systems along the interdisciplinary and multi-agency collaboration between key actors in the child protection system and the capacity building of professionals on effective actions to prevent, identify and respond to violence against children. Resilience is the process of multiple biological, psychological, social, and ecological systems interacting in ways that help individuals to regain, sustain, or improve their mental wellbeing when challenged by one or more risk factors. Based on these assumptions, the Tutor of Resilience (ToR) training program was delivered within the European program against child maltreatment "PEARLS for Children", to build up a multisectoral network of professionals - medical care practitioners, educators, social services providers and police officers - trained to build resilience in children and families dealing with the critical developmental milestones for the onset of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), in Italy, Lithuania, and Poland. The ToR included 6 phases: needs assessment to identify each professional category's educational gaps in ACEs; the ToR initial training and the action plan design based on the resilience-enabling principles delivered during the training; the ToR program implementation professionals conduct on the field; the follow-up after 5/6 months of program implementation, followed by a set of cascade trainings based on the ToR model, delivered by the 70 trained professionals to 221 professionals belonging to the 4 target professional category in the 3 countries. At the end, an international closure meeting was conducted to share multi-sectoral lessons learned, results, and sustainability of the ToR program.

“Invisible” children: A multiple case study on the experiences and protection of hospital-stranded children

BackgroundHospital-stranded children are defined as children who are left by parents in medical settings for over six months. These children, who legally are not classified as orphans, are excluded from existing permanent placement policies in China. Yet, little is known about this vulnerable population of children. ObjectiveThis study explores the experiences of hospital-stranded children and the causes for their plight, and examines the strengths and weaknesses of existing child protection practices in medical settings. MethodsUsing a multiple-case design, 20 hospital-stranded children from three children's hospitals in a first-tier Chinese city were included in this study. Sixteen hospital personnel participated in semi-structured interviews. Interview findings, case records, and field observations were analyzed using a thematic analysis approach. Current child protection practices were analyzed through a child protection system model. ResultsThe children in this study were well cared for by the hospitals, but their rights to provision, participation, and protection were violated due to the lack of a national child protection system. Three key weaknesses of child protection practices were identified: underreporting of suspected cases, delayed action after reporting, and inadequate follow-up services. The ineffectiveness of the national child welfare system and the family-oriented cultural values in China also created barriers to the protection of hospital-stranded children. ConclusionsThe findings suggest an urgent need for a national child protection system. Professional child protection training for healthcare workers and collaboration among departments within and outside hospitals are also necessary to offer a systematic protective network for hospital-stranded children.

International development organisations and the localisation of human rights

ABSTRACT International development organisations face a challenge to reconcile their commitments to universal human rights agendas with the growing expectation to localise and decolonise their approaches in order to shift power to local actors. This article draws on research into children’s rights implementation in Vietnam, specifically the introduction of the national child protection system, to highlight the challenges for international organisations in balancing their roles as creators and proponents of human rights agendas with their aspirations to enable locally driven action. Greater attention to values alignment, elevation of local knowledge, resourcing of intermediaries and a deeper understanding of the agency of local actors on international organisations are suggested as ways to help address the challenges.

International Human-Rights Supervision Triggering Change in Child-Protection Systems? The Effectiveness of the Recommendations of the CRC Committee in Estonia

Estonia’s legal system is generally regarded as very accepting of international (human-rights) law, with treaties in this domain and associated supervisory practice being implemented directly by national courts. The article analyses whether this extends to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the recommendations of the CRC Committee on ways to improve the Estonian national child-protection system. The main question examined is whether the CRC Committee’s ‘Concluding Observations’ have had an impact and been effective with regard to the Estonian child-protection system. The article lays out and further develops the framework proposed by Krommendijk for analysing the impact and effectiveness of international human-rights work with respect to national legal systems. The author begins by situating this theoretical framework in the context of the CRC and the Estonian legal system and then providing a brief description of Estonia's reporting process. The bulk of the paper is concerned with research presenting the development of the following elements of the child-protection system in aims of analysing the effectiveness of the CRC Committee's recommendations: general principles with relevance for the child-protection system, the institutional set-up, issues related to the implementation of the child's right to be free from any form of violence (along with any relevant procedural rights), and the placement of a child within the child-protection system.

Family sustainability and child protection in Vietnam

This paper reviews social and economic changes impacting on family sustainability and child well-being in Vietnam. It further analyses the national child protection system with a highlight on the development of the national legal and policy framework, the beginnings of a professionalised workforce and a growing number of services to prevent and respond to children in need of protection in Vietnam. The paper first provides an overview of socioeconomic trends affecting families and children in Vietnam, then presents a critical analysis of the formalised, professionalised child protection system that has emerged to support children in need. The paper discusses the challenge of contextualising child protection policy and services in Vietnam, and advocates for the careful consideration of context in the development of children’s service systems to ensure appropriate and effective safeguarding of children's best interests.

Safeguarding Children in the Developing World—Beyond Intra-Organisational Policy and Self-Regulation

Safeguarding in the context of development and humanitarian assistance has received heightened international attention since 2018. Emerging literature has not yet investigated the extent to which responses are evolving in the best interests of the child, in line with the treaty-based rights of children. This article makes a unique contribution to scholarship by applying a child rights lens to safeguarding efforts in the aid sector with a focus on the least developed countries in Africa. The article first reviews the safeguarding landscape—providing a snapshot of self-regulatory and standard setting initiatives by non-government organisations (NGOs) and bilateral government donors. Next, the article examines the relevant standards in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child and respective Committee observations to enrich the safeguarding discussion. Finally, the article discusses key dilemmas and remaining challenges for safeguarding children in the developing world. The article suggests that a rights-based approach provides for a more nuanced and contextualised response, avoiding the temptation of ‘tick-box’ exercises driven by reputational management and ‘programming siloes’ imposed by humanitarian and development actors. To support sustained and consistent progress, efforts should go beyond intra-organisational policy and sectoral self-regulation. Child rights law monitoring mechanisms can be leveraged to encourage effective government oversight of NGOs in contact with children, as part of national frameworks for child protection. Donor governments should also consider and increase investment in national and local child protection systems to address risk factors to child abuse and ensure appropriate responses for any child that experiences harm.

Kenya’s Over-Reliance on Institutionalization as a Child Care and Child Protection Model: A Root-Cause Approach

Institutionalization of children who are deprived of parental care is a thriving phenomenon in the global South, and has generated considerable concern both nationally and internationally, in the last two decades. In Kenya, the number of children growing up in live-in care institutions has been growing ever since the country’s early post-independence years. Although legislative and regulatory measures aimed at child protection have been in place for a number of years now, and the national government appears to be standing by the commitment it expressed in recent times to implement care reform which encompasses de-institutionalization, the national child protection system remains very dependent on institutional care. Against the backdrop of a global and national movement towards de-institutionalization of child care and child protection, in this paper we tease out the range of factors reinforcing Kenya’s over-reliance on live-in institutions as a child care and child protection model. Numerous factors—structural, political, economic, socio-cultural, and legal—contribute to the complexity of the issue. We highlight this complexity, bringing together different angles, while pointing out the interests of the different stakeholders in reinforcing institutional care. We argue that the sustainability, efficiency and effectiveness of the intended change from institutional care to alternative family-based care requires that a root-cause approach be adopted in addressing the underlying child care and child protection issues.

‘And then they left’: Challenges to child protection systems strengthening in South Sudan

International child protection work has undergone a paradigm shift, moving from addressing issues such as trafficked children, street children and child labour separately to a more integrated systems approach. As a young nation still marked by conflict, South Sudan offers insight into how the interplay between a fragile national child protection system in a conflict‐affected country and the efforts of international humanitarian actors can promote or undermine systems strengthening. From June to August 2012, 52 semi‐structured key informant interviews with international‐, national‐ and community‐level actors were completed. Eight community‐level focus group discussions were also conducted separately with men, women, boys and girls. Interview guides were designed to explore participant perceptions of child protection system functioning. Data were analysed using a grounded theory approach. Four dimensions emerged as crucial pillars for child protection systems strengthening: coordination, capacity, funding and community inclusion. These factors were found to have taken root in unequal measure. Respondents at all systemic levels indicated that child protection systems strengthening efforts operated largely in isolation from the quotidian realities of children, families and communities. The humanitarian apparatus — marked by short‐term funding and accountability to the international community — will require significant reform to situate humanitarian efforts in a systems strengthening framework. If the objective is to strengthen national child protection systems, emergency response activities must better align with household‐ and community‐level efforts to protect children.

Cross-border public care and adoption proceedings in the European Union

The free movement of persons within the EU has meant that children at risk of harm from family members may be living in a Member State of which they are not a national. The child may be made subject to legal measures under the national law of the host State for the protection of their welfare. This article explores the competence of the EU to protect children in these circumstances, and the scope of the Brussels IIa Regulation in governing jurisdiction over child protection proceedings. It discusses the difference between national child protection systems and the political controversy surrounding English law on adoption following care proceedings issued over a child who is a national of a different Member State. It suggests that further information sharing on national systems and cooperation between courts is necessary for the effectiveness of the law and to encourage understanding of legitimate variation in Member State national family law.

Bottom-up approaches to strengthening child protection systems: Placing children, families, and communities at the center

Efforts to strengthen national child protection systems have frequently taken a top-down approach of imposing formal, government-managed services. Such expert-driven approaches are often characterized by low use of formal services and the misalignment of the nonformal and formal aspects of the child protection system. This article examines an alternative approach of community-driven, bottom-up work that enables nonformal–formal collaboration and alignment, greater use of formal services, internally driven social change, and high levels of community ownership. The dominant approach of reliance on expert-driven Child Welfare Committees produces low levels of community ownership. Using an approach developed and tested in rural Sierra Leone, community-driven action, including collaboration and linkages with the formal system, promoted the use of formal services and achieved increased ownership, effectiveness, and sustainability of the system. The field needs less reliance on expert-driven approaches and much wider use of slower, community-driven, bottom-up approaches to child protection.

Make the Promise True: a Monitoring and Evaluation Framework for Measuring Quality in Child Protection Service Delivery in Zimbabwe

Promising Quality: making sure that we deliver excellent services for children, (UNICEF 2012a), is an innovative monitoring and evaluation framework of original and standardised measures developed in Zimbabwe to support child protection providers to deliver quality services for children within a multi-agency child protection system. It is intended to meet the demands of governments, donors and other stakeholders for information on the effectiveness and efficiency of development programming but importantly is a practice which ensures downward accountability to children. It can also be utilised to track programme performance, and in broad terms, value for money in child protection service delivery. Further, Promising Quality has important implications for the creation and strengthening of different types of social capital between children, organisations and government. Promising Quality is constructed to encourage children’s full and meaningful participation in the monitoring and evaluation (ME it poses three questions and uses four specifically designed instruments to find out if an organization is delivering what children need where and when they need it. In so doing, gaps in the functioning of a comprehensive child protection system are highlighted such that improvements in programming, policy advocacy and investment can be made. This paper argues that Promising Quality - its inception and continuing evolution - is a core component of a rights-based, participatory national child protection system in developing contexts and beyond because of its ability to track gains in efficiency as well as child protection outcomes.

The disconnect between community-based child protection mechanisms and the formal child protection system in rural Sierra Leone: Challenges to building an effective national child protection system

Efforts to strengthen national child protection systems often encounter problems of low utilization rates by local people. A rapid ethnographic study in two districts of Sierra Leone documented local views of harms to children and which mechanisms people used in responding to and preventing the harms. Key harms included teenage pregnancy out of wedlock, out of school children, heavy labor, and maltreatment of children who do not live with their biological parents. Overwhelmingly, people used traditional family and community mechanisms in responding to these harms. Even in regard to criminal offenses, they very seldom used formal child protection mechanisms such as the Child Welfare Committees, and the police and government social workers as mandated under the 2007 Child Rights Act. This disconnect between the local mechanisms that people actually use and the government-led aspects of the national child protection system owes partly to problems of access but also to cultural and social norms and negative perceptions of the formal system. Additional research, including on community-driven interventions for linking communities and formal mechanisms, is needed to identify the effective means for addressing these obstacles and enabling the alignment of the endogenous and formal mechanisms.

Parents’ Experiences of Reporting Child Sexual Abuse in Urban Tanzania

This article reports parental experiences of legally reporting child sexual abuse in Tanzania. Based on in-depth interviews, four types of sexual abuse incidents are portrayed. Each evokes different reactions from parents and the community. An incident characterized as the innocent child was associated with a determination to seek justice. The forced-sex youth elicited feelings of parental betrayal of their child. The consenting curious youth resulted in uncertainty of how to proceed, while the transactional-sex youth evoked a sense of parental powerlessness to control the child because of low economic status. Differentiating between types of sexual abuse incidents may increase awareness of the complexities of child sexual abuse reporting. Education on laws regulating sexual offenses and a functional national child protection system are needed to address child sexual abuse complexities and safeguard the rights of children in Tanzania.

Child Abuse and Neglect in Saudi Arabia: Journey of recognition to implementation of national prevention strategies

Objectives To describe increased child abuse and neglect (CAN) reporting and the characteristics of the reports in the context of the development of a system of intervention for one of the hospital-based child protection centers in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia aligned with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) Article 19. Methods A retroprospective collection of data on all children evaluated by the Suspected Child Abuse and Neglect (SCAN) team in King Abdulaziz Medical City for the National Guard from 2000 to 2008. The cases were further divided into 3 subgroups corresponding to the years 2000–2004, 2005–2006, and 2007–2008 parallel to the stages of development of the national child protection system. Results During the study period, there were a total of 188 referrals to the SCAN team. Of these 133 (70.7%) were further investigated as CAN cases. The total number of referred cases increased 10-fold from 6.4 cases per year in the first period to 61.5 cases per year in the third period. The mean age was 5 years, evenly represented by males and females. Physical abuse was the most common form of abuse in the first (2000–2004) period at 61% and second (2005–2006) period at 76%, which changed to neglect (41.6%) as the most common form of maltreatment in the third (2007–2008) period. Parents were the perpetrators in 48.9% of cases throughout the 3 periods. Overall fatality rates were 4.4%, 14.3%, and 7.9% in the first, second, and third periods respectively. Conclusion Recognition of CAN is expanding in Saudi Arabia. This is due to the successful adoption of a system of intervention consisting of child protection centers in the medical facilities, in conjunction with mandatory reporting and data collection strategies. In addition, the changes in public attitudes towards a better understanding of CAN enhanced further recognition and reporting of neglect and milder forms of abuse. We believe that the number of reported CAN cases in Saudi Arabia will continue to rise, hence adequate multi-sectoral services for the abuse victims require further development and improvements throughout the country.