Global Report on Children's Care and Protection 2024

Millions of children everywhere experience separation from their families.

Often, it can be prevented.

Separation can have long-lasting - even intergenerational - physical and mental effects. The same pattern repeats itself everywhere – in low-, middle- and high-income countries.

New global research from SOS Children’s Villages explores the phenomenon of child-family separation. A devastating web of family-level, societal, and systemic factors is causing family breakdown and driving children into alternative care. We identified the drivers of child-family separation and what can be done to prevent it together with partners from ten academic institutions from around the world and the direct involvement of over a thousand children, young people, families and experts on four continents.

Child-family separation harms millions of children and young people. The resulting loss of care undermines child protection, social stability and sustainable development. The separation violates every child’s right to be cared for in a family environment. It carries detrimental long-term consequences on the child’s development and well-being.

Violence – in the family and throughout society – is a particularly strong factor increasing the risk of children growing up without parental care. Other factors include economic hardship and social norms – such as patriarchal views and discrimination, for example against children with disabilities. Systemic failures such as weak social protection substantially increase the risk of children being placed in alternative care.

Complex intertwining factors which – in various combinations – increase the risk of loss of care for children and young people.

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The drivers of child-family separation are similar across diverse countries of all socio-economic type. Key factors are:

Family-level – including domestic violence, parental death, disability, and substance abuse.
Societal – including gender-based violence, economic hardship, migration, cultural norms (which are often patriarchal) and discrimination.
Systemic – including weak or uncoordinated social protection systems and decision-making failures in child protection system.

The factors are often combined, with the effects compounding over time when unaddressed. Successful interventions need to be tailored to the multiplicity of drivers that are present.

42% of professionals surveyed believe children are often placed in alternative care due to physical abuse.

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Governments and stakeholders across all social sectors – from healthcare to education to child protection and beyond – must address the root causes of child-family separation and prioritize care and support systems to help families stay together and support children and young people.

By strengthening families in their caregiving roles and increasing their resilience to social and economic risks, we can secure every child’s right to grow up in a safe, stable and nurturing family environment.

SOS Children’s Villages recommends a three-pillar approach.

Enhance preventative child protection.
Expand access to inclusive family support.
Adopt an integrated approach to care and support.

Invest in integrated care systems that enable safe, stable, and supportive family environments for every child by guaranteeing children and families access to adequate child and social protection, and both basic and specialized support services that reduce vulnerabilities across the life course.

We adopted a child-centred approach to value the lived experiences and voices of the children and families impacted by separation that are largely missing in current studies.

Because of the global gap of information regarding the situation especially in middle and low-income countries, we embarked on a groundbreaking multi-sectoral collaboration of 1,179 research participants from Cote d'Ivoire, Denmark, Indonesia, El Salvador, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, and Uruguay. This involved participatory research with 517 children and young people, 290 adult family members and consultations with 368 stakeholders from multiple sectors, including child protection and social protection.

The participating academic research institutions are: American University of Central Asia, Brown University, Child Consulting Ltd., Daystar University, International University of Grand-Bassam, University College Copenhagen, Saint Joseph University in Beirut, University College Absalon, Universidad Tecnológica de El Salvador, Universitas Islam Bandung, and Universidad Católica del Uruguay.

The project was made possible through the financial support of SOS Children’s Villages Hermann Gmeiner Fund Germany, as well as SOS Children’s Villages Norway, Denmark, and Sweden.

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Events and experts on understanding and preventing child-family separation

Online Launch: Global Report on Children’s Care and Protection 2024 , 24 October 2024. Read the experts' bios. Watch the video.
Launch of the Global Report at the United Nations on the International Day of Care and Support, 24 October 2024. Watch the video.
Strengthening Families, Protecting Children online conference, 30 and 31 October 2024.

Contact Evidence & Learning for more information.

Global Report on Children’s Care and Protection: Understanding and preventing the separation of children from their families

Groundbreaking global research identifies the drivers of child-family separation, concluding that a devastating web of family-level, societal, and systemic factors is causing family breakdown and driving children into alternative care. The report calls on governments and stakeholders across all social sectors to address the root causes of child-family separation and to prioritize care and support systems to help families stay together and support children and young people.

Author: SOS Children’s Villages

Rosalind Willi and Claudia Arisi

Publication date: October 2024

Full report , English (pdf, 6.1 MB)

Full report, French (pdf, 6.7 MB)

Full report, Spanish (pdf, 6.3 MB)

Full report, Russian (pdf, 6.5 MB)

Executive summary, English (pdf, 2.5 MB)

Executive summary, French (pdf, 2.6 MB)

Executive summary, Spanish (pdf, 2.6 MB)

Executive summary, Arabic (pdf, 2.4 MB)

Executive summary, Russian (pdf, 2.5 MB)