Child protection

{{Main|Child labour}}Child labor is the practice of having children engage in economic activity on a part-time or full-time basis.{{Cite journal |last=ANKER |first=Richard |date=September 2000 |title=The economics of child labour: A framework for measurement |url=|journal=International Labour Review |volume=139 |issue=3 |pages=257–280 |doi=10.1111/j.1564-913x.2000.tb00204.x |issn=0020-7780}}{{Cite journal |last=Martin |first=Mervyn |date=June 2013 |title=Child labour: parameters, developmental implications, causes and consequences |url=|journal=Contemporary Social Science |volume=8 |issue=2 |pages=156–165 |doi=10.1080/21582041.2012.751501 |s2cid=167660954 |issn=2158-2041}} The practice is harmful to their physical and mental development. It is considered to be a form of exploitation and is illegal in many countries.{{Citation |title=UNICEF: Engaging Stakeholders on Children's Rights |date=2017-01-01 |url=|work=The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child |pages=777–794 |publisher=Brill {{!}} Nijhoff|doi=10.1163/9789004295056_038 |isbn=9789004295049 |last1=Charrière |first1=Florence }}{{Cite journal |last1=Donnelly |first1=Peter |last2=Petherick |first2=Leanne |date=September 2004 |title=Workers' Playtime? Child Labour at the Extremes of the Sporting Spectrum |url=|journal=Sport in Society |volume=7 |issue=3 |pages=301–321 |doi=10.1080/1743043042000291659 |s2cid=145578897 |issn=1743-0437}}{{Cite journal |date=2015-07-13 |title=Child Maltreatment 2014 Best Article Award |url=|journal=Child Maltreatment |volume=20 |issue=3 |pages=221 |doi=10.1177/1077559515594086 |s2cid=220187852 |issn=1077-5595}}

Due to economic reasons, especially in poor countries, children are forced to work in order to survive. Child labor often happens in difficult conditions, which are dangerous and impairable to the education of future citizens, and increase vulnerability to adults.{{Citation |last=Karavias |first=Markos |title=The Structural Framework for Corporate Obligations in the Context of Human Rights |date=2013-11-28 |url=|work=Corporate Obligations under International Law |pages=163–198 |publisher=Oxford University Press|doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199674381.003.0006 |isbn=978-0-19-967438-1 }}{{Citation |title=2 The Varying Requirements and Pathways for Completing High School |date=2011-12-31 |url=|work=Dropping Out |pages=20–46 |publisher=Harvard University Press|doi=10.4159/harvard.9780674063167.c3 |isbn=978-0-674-06316-7 }}{{Cite journal |last1=Grey |first1=Jeffrey |last2=Brett |first2=Rachel |last3=Specht |first3=Irma |date=2005 |title=Young Soldiers: Why They Choose to Fight |url=|journal=International Journal |volume=60 |issue=4 |pages=1181 |doi=10.2307/40204117 |jstor=40204117 |issn=0020-7020}} It is hard to know exactly the age and number of children{{Cite web |last=Digital |first=Swace |title=Save the Children's Definition of Child Protection |url=https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/document/save-childrens-definition-child-protection/ |date=2007 |access-date=2023-03-08 |website=Save the Children's Resource Centre |language=en}} who are affected. At least 152 million children under five years of age worked in 2016, but the figure is underestimated because domestic labor is not counted.{{Cite web|url=http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_575499.pdf|title=Global Estimates of Child Labour, Results and Trends, 2012–2016|website=International Labour Organization |date=2017 |language=en|access-date=2018-01-23}} The actual statistics cannot be counted exactly due to the many cases of child labor going unseen.

Child endangerment is the act of placing a child in a situation that neglects their health or life.{{cite web |date=2016-12-23 |title=10 U.S. Code § 919b – Art. 119b. Child endangerment |url=https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title10-section919b&num=0&edition=prelim |access-date=2023-09-30 |website=Office of the Law Revision Council United States Code}} Child endangerment can cause many negative physical and mental effects. This can stem from abusive parental care, child neglect, and a multitude of other reasons.

Infanticide is the intentional killing of infants and young children.{{Cite journal |last=Higginbotham |date=2011 |title=<em>Reformers, Patrons and Philanthropists: The Cowper-Temples and High Politics in Victorian England</em>, by James Gregory |url=|journal=Victorian Studies |volume=53 |issue=3 |pages=536 |doi=10.2979/victorianstudies.53.3.536 |s2cid=142590142 |issn=0042-5222}}{{Cite journal |last1=Brookman |first1=Fiona |last2=Nolan |first2=Jane |date=July 2006 |title=The Dark Figure of Infanticide in England and Wales |url=|journal=Journal of Interpersonal Violence |volume=21 |issue=7 |pages=869–889 |doi=10.1177/0886260506288935 |pmid=16731989 |s2cid=11302352 |issn=0886-2605}}{{Cite journal |last1=Denham |first1=Aaron R. |last2=Adongo |first2=Philip B. |last3=Freydberg |first3=Nicole |last4=Hodgson |first4=Abraham |date=August 2010 |title=Chasing spirits: Clarifying the spirit child phenomenon and infanticide in Northern Ghana |url=|journal=Social Science & Medicine |volume=71 |issue=3 |pages=608–615 |doi=10.1016/j.socscimed.2010.04.022 |pmid=20605304 |issn=0277-9536}} This practice has been documented throughout history and still occurs in certain cultures today, usually as a result of poverty and/or other social pressures.{{Cite book |last1=LEE |first1=JAMES Z. |url=|title=One Quarter of Humanity |last2=FENG |first2=WANG |date=2009-06-30 |publisher=Harvard University Press |doi=10.2307/j.ctvjf9vt6 |isbn=978-0-674-04005-2}}{{Cite journal |last=Patterson |first=Cynthia |date=1985 |title="Not Worth the Rearing": The Causes of Infant Exposure in Ancient Greece |url=|journal=Transactions of the American Philological Association |volume=115 |pages=103–123 |doi=10.2307/284192 |jstor=284192 |issn=0360-5949}}{{Cite book |last=Rose |first=Lionel |date=2015-08-27 |title=The Massacre of the Innocents |url=|doi=10.4324/9781315671604|isbn=978-1-315-67160-4 }} Infanticide can be carried out by parents, relatives, or strangers and is often seen as a form of gender-based violence, since female babies are more likely to be killed than male ones.{{Cite journal |last=Bhatt |first=R.V. |date=December 1998 |title=Domestic violence and substance abuse |url=|journal=International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics |volume=63 |pages=S25–S31 |doi=10.1016/s0020-7292(98)00181-7 |pmid=10075209 |s2cid=25528652 |issn=0020-7292}}{{Cite journal |last=Krantz |first=G. |date=2005-10-01 |title=Violence against women |url=|journal=Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health |volume=59 |issue=10 |pages=818–821 |doi=10.1136/jech.2004.022756 |pmid=16166351 |pmc=1732916 |s2cid=29376851 |issn=0143-005X}}{{Citation |last=Murthy |first=Ranjani K. |title=7. Learning about Participation from Gender Relations of Female Infanticide |date=January 1998 |work=The Myth of Community |pages=78–92 |place=Rugby, Warwickshire, United Kingdom |publisher=Practical Action Publishing|doi=10.3362/9781780440309.007 |doi-broken-date=2024-11-13 |isbn=978-1-85339-421-8 }} In some cases, infanticide may also be used to conceal evidence of incest or rape. It is most commonly practiced in cultures where there is a preference for male children, or where resources are scarce.

In some countries, children can be imprisoned for common crimes. In some countries, like Iran or China, criminals can even be sentenced to capital punishment for crimes committed while they were children (the United States abandoned the practice in 2005).{{Cite book |last1=Johnson |first1=David T. |last2=Zimring |first2=Franklin E. |date=2009-05-01 |title=The Next Frontier |url=|doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195337402.001.0001|isbn=978-0-19-533740-2 }}{{Cite journal |last1=B. |first1=J. H. |last2=Young |first2=E. Hilton |date=November 1912 |title=Foreign Companies and Other Corporations |url=|journal=Harvard Law Review |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=96 |doi=10.2307/1324306 |jstor=1324306 |hdl=2027/coo1.ark:/13960/t3ws97m00 |issn=0017-811X}}{{Cite book |last=Peters |first=Rudolph |url=|title=Crime and Punishment in Islamic Law |date=2006-02-13 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/cbo9780511610677 |isbn=978-0-521-79226-4}}{{Cite journal |last=HOOD |first=ROGER |date=July 2001 |title=Capital Punishment |url=|journal=Punishment & Society |volume=3 |issue=3 |pages=331–354 |doi=10.1177/1462474501003003001 |s2cid=143875533 |issn=1462-4745}} In contexts where military use of children is made, they also risk becoming prisoners of war. Other children are forced into prostitution, exploited by adults for illegal traffic in children, or endangered by poverty and hunger.{{Cite journal |last=Ibarra |first=Peter R. |date=July 2007 |title=Children in the Global Sex Trade. By Julia O'Connell Davidson. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2005. Pp. viii+178. $62.95 (cloth); $24.95 (paper). |url=|journal=American Journal of Sociology |volume=113 |issue=1 |pages=292–294 |doi=10.1086/520904 |issn=0002-9602}}{{Cite journal |last=Ojo |first=Matthias Olufemi Dada |date=2013-01-28 |title=A Sociological Investigation of Awareness and Causes of Intimate Partner Violence in Nigeria: A Survey of Agege, Lagos State |journal=Asian Social Science |volume=9 |issue=2 |doi=10.5539/ass.v9n2p231 |issn=1911-2025|doi-access=free }} Infanticide today continues at a much higher rate in areas of extremely high poverty and overpopulation, such as parts of China and India. Female infants, then and even now, are particularly vulnerable, which is a factor in sex-selective infanticide.{{Cite book |date=2014-09-04 |title=Reproduction and Society: Interdisciplinary Readings |url=|doi=10.4324/9781315754222|isbn=978-1-315-75422-2 }}{{Citation |last=Digby |first=Leslie |title=Infanticide by female mammals: implications for the evolution of social systems |date=2000-11-02 |url=|work=Infanticide by Males and its Implications |pages=423–446 |publisher=Cambridge University Press|doi=10.1017/cbo9780511542312.019 |isbn=978-0-521-77295-2 }}{{Cite journal |last1=Nandi |first1=Arindam |last2=Deolalikar |first2=Anil B. |date=July 2013 |title=Does a legal ban on sex-selective abortions improve child sex ratios? Evidence from a policy change in India |url=|journal=Journal of Development Economics |volume=103 |pages=216–228 |doi=10.1016/j.jdeveco.2013.02.007 |issn=0304-3878}}

{{Main|Child abuse}}

Many children who come to the attention of the child welfare system do so because of situations which are often referred to as child abuse. Abuse typically involves abuse of power, or exercising power for an unintended purpose.{{Cite journal |last1=Zimring |first1=Franklin E. |last2=Johnson |first2=David T. |date=2005-05-26 |title=On the Comparative Study of Corruption |url=|journal=The British Journal of Criminology |volume=45 |issue=6 |pages=793–809 |doi=10.1093/bjc/azi042 |issn=1464-3529}}{{Cite journal |last=Orentlicher |first=Diane F. |date=1991 |title=Settling Accounts: The Duty to Prosecute Human Rights Violations of a Prior Regime |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/796903 |journal=The Yale Law Journal |volume=100 |issue=8 |pages=2537–2615 |doi=10.2307/796903 |jstor=796903 |issn=0044-0094}} This includes willful neglect, knowingly not exercising a power for the purpose for which it was intended. This is why child abuse is defined as taking advantage of a position of trust having been invested with powers.{{Cite journal |last=World Health Organization |date=January 2002 |title=WHO/CONRAD Technical Consultation on Nonoxynol-9, World Health Organization, Geneva, 9–10 October 2001: Summary Report |journal=Reproductive Health Matters |volume=10 |issue=20 |pages=175–181 |doi=10.1016/s0968-8080(02)00085-x |pmid=12569895 |s2cid=23890301 |issn=0968-8080|doi-access=free }}{{Citation |last=Malin |first=Nigel |title=Professional abuse of power: discreditation or a lowering of productivity? |date=2020-02-05 |url=|work=De-Professionalism and Austerity |pages=183–208 |publisher=Policy Press|doi=10.1332/policypress/9781447350163.003.0011 |isbn=978-1-4473-5016-3 |s2cid=243151818 }}

• Physical abuse is physical assault or battery on the child. Whilst an assault has some adverse consequence that the victim did not agree to (the difference between surgery and stabbing) the victim agrees to the consequences of battery but the agreement is fraudulent in some way (e.g. unnecessary surgery under false pretenses). Physical abuse is also harassment, a physical presence intended to provoke fear.
• Child sexual abuse is sexual assault or battery on the child. The vast majority of physical assaults are a reaction to a situation involving a specific victim. Sexual assault is predominantly perpetrator gratification against any suitable target. Sexual abuse covers the range of direct and indirect assaults (e.g. imagery) and the means of facilitation such as stalking and internet offenses.
• Child neglect is defined as failure to take adequate measures to safeguard a child from harm, and gross negligence in providing for a child's basic needs. Needs are the actions to be taken to protect and provide for the child. Safeguarding is the duty of a person given the powers of responsibility for the child to take the necessary measures to protect the child. If a child is physically or sexually abused, then there is an (abusive) person responsible for the assault and a (negligent) person responsible for failing to protect them from the assault. In some cases, they may be the same.
• Psychological abuse is when meeting the child's needs by taking the necessary steps to protect and provide for the child the child's wishes and feelings must be considered when deciding on delivery of the provision that best serves the child's needs. Willfully failing to provide in accordance with the child's wishes and feelings whilst it is in the child's best interests is emotional abuse (intentional infliction of emotional distress) or negligently is emotional neglect (negligent infliction of emotional distress).

Parental responsibility is the legal obligation of a parent to provide for their child's physical, emotional, and financial needs. This includes providing food, shelter, clothing, education, medical care, and emotional support. It also includes protecting the child from harm and ensuring their safety. In 1984 the Council of Europe, the body that supervises the European Convention on Human Rights, made Recommendation R(84) 4 on Parental Responsibilities.{{Cite web|url=https://www.coe.int/en/web/cdcj|title=Council of Europe European Committee on Legal Co-operation – European Committee on Legal Co-operation – www.coe.int|website=European Committee on Legal Co-operation|accessdate=June 13, 2023}} These defined parental responsibility as a 'function' duties to be met and powers that can be exercised to meet those duties.{{Cite web|url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1989/41/section/105|title=Children Act 1989|website=www.legislation.gov.uk|accessdate=June 13, 2023}} Child abuse and neglect is failure by a person with parental or any other protective responsibility to exercise the powers for the intended purpose, which is the benefit of the child.

Actions typically include services aimed at supporting at-risk families so they can remain intact to safeguard and promote the welfare of the child, investigation of alleged child abuse and, if necessary, assuming parental responsibility by foster care and adoption services.

Child maltreatment refers to any type of harsh treatment or abuse which results in harm to a helpless child. Examples of child maltreatment include physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, exploitation, deprivation and neglect.{{Cite web |title=ERIC – Education Resources Information Center |url=https://eric.ed.gov/ |access-date=2023-03-23 |website=eric.ed.gov}} The long-term impact of abuse on victims often includes physical injury, psychological and behavioral harm, and can potentially be carried across generations.{{Cite web |title=Home – Child Welfare Information Gateway |url=https://www.childwelfare.gov/ |access-date=2023-03-23 |website=www.childwelfare.gov}}{{Cite web|url=https://shifafoundation.org/health-nutrition-child-protection-integratd-flood-response-sindh/|title=Child Protection Integrated Flood Response|website=www.shifafoundation.org|date=15 April 2023 |accessdate=June 15, 2023}}

Caregiver maltreatment of children is a global problem that can occur in adoption programs, regardless of social status and in cases of discrimination and early or unwanted pregnancy. Adopted children may be mistreated more than biological children. Additionally, children may suffer maltreatment due to their social status, and discrimination based on skin color has also been documented as a factor in child maltreatment. Unwanted pregnancies can also increase tension in the household, potentially leading to the mistreatment of a child.{{Cite web |title=National Center for Biotechnology Information |url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ |access-date=2023-03-23 |website=www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov |language=en}}

Various services exist to address or prevent child maltreatment; these services can be provided by businesses or by government agencies. Where these services encounter cases of maltreatment, the state then creates a supportive family environment for the abused child. This entails the regulation of both public and private entities providing care for children and families.{{Cite web|url=https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/Framework%20for%20the%20assessment%20of%20children%20in%20need%20and%20their%20families.pdf|title=UK Government Web Archive|accessdate=June 13, 2023|archive-date=April 1, 2013|archive-url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130401151715/https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/Framework%20for%20the%20assessment%20of%20children%20in%20need%20and%20their%20families.pdf|url-status=bot: unknown}}

Child maltreatment can even occur in cases where state or other guardians take responsibility for a child's welfare.

A 2014 European Commission survey on child protection systems listed the following categories of children needing help:{{Cite web|url=https://ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/runner/EU-guidance-on-integrated-Child-Protection-Systems|title=EUSurvey – Survey unavailable|website=ec.europa.eu|accessdate=June 13, 2023}}

• Child victims of bullying or cyber-bullying
• Child victims of female genital mutilation or forced marriage
• Child victims of neglect or abuse
• Child victims of sexual abuse/exploitation
• Child victims of trafficking
• Children affected by custody disputes, including parental child abduction
• Children belonging to minority ethnic groups, e.g. Roma
• Children left behind (by parents who move to another EU country for work)
• Children in a situation of migration
• Children in judicial proceedings
• Children in or at risk of poverty
• Children in police custody or detention
• Children of parents in prison or custody
• Children with disabilities
• Children without parental care/in alternative care
• Children who are not in compulsory education or training or working children below the legal age for work
• Missing children (e.g. runaways, abducted children, unaccompanied children going missing)
• Unaccompanied children in a situation of migration

The International Labor Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency dealing with labor issues, created in 1919. It takes care also of child labor issues, in particular with conventions 138 and 182.

On 20 November 1959 the United Nations General Assembly adopted a Declaration of the Rights of the Child during the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) is a United Nations Program headquartered in New York City, that provides long-term humanitarian and developmental assistance to children and mothers in developing countries.{{citation needed|date=October 2023}}

In 2000, an agreement was reached among countries belonging to the United Nations{{ambiguous|date=March 2014}} countries about the military use of children. {{citation needed|date=October 2023}}

The effectiveness of these programs is contested and seems limited to some.{{vague|date=May 2014}}

Child protection systems, particularly in Africa and other less developed regions, face significant structural and systemic challenges that prevent effective implementation. These include poverty, disease, conflict, weak institutional capacity, external influences, cultural norms, and emerging threats.

Poverty is a major barrier to child protection, affecting both prevention programs and response mechanisms. Financial instability limits access to education, healthcare, and basic needs, often forcing kids into exploitative situations such as child labor, street life, and early marriage. In extreme cases, children engage in "survival sex" for food or money.{{Cite journal |last=Lachman |first=Peter |last2=Poblete |first2=Ximena |last3=Ebigbo |first3=Peter O |last4=Nyandiya-Bundy |first4=Sally |last5=Bundy |first5=Robert P |last6=Killian |first6=Bev |last7=Doek |first7=Jaap |date=2002-06-01 |title=Challenges facing child protection |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0145213402003368?casa_token=QF1w7lAxApsAAAAA:9aEzQ-vmOQIVxoQ3ZvDd4uWrq2tyJupPDdlIz-sFfJUk2BTugnh3KvN0v4KK4yncEj3m6fi7sKEL |journal=Child Abuse & Neglect |volume=26 |issue=6 |pages=587–617 |doi=10.1016/S0145-2134(02)00336-8 |issn=0145-2134}} The lack of income-generating opportunities for families exacerbates vulnerabilities, making systemic child protection efforts difficult to sustain in low-resource settings.{{Cite journal |last=Lachman |first=Peter |last2=Poblete |first2=Ximena |last3=Ebigbo |first3=Peter O |last4=Nyandiya-Bundy |first4=Sally |last5=Bundy |first5=Robert P |last6=Killian |first6=Bev |last7=Doek |first7=Jaap |date=2002-06-01 |title=Challenges facing child protection |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0145213402003368?casa_token=QF1w7lAxApsAAAAA:9aEzQ-vmOQIVxoQ3ZvDd4uWrq2tyJupPDdlIz-sFfJUk2BTugnh3KvN0v4KK4yncEj3m6fi7sKEL |journal=Child Abuse & Neglect |volume=26 |issue=6 |pages=587–617 |doi=10.1016/S0145-2134(02)00336-8 |issn=0145-2134}}

The HIV/AIDS pandemic has also severely disrupted child protection structures, creating a generation of orphans and vulnerable children. In countries like Zimbabwe, for example, the epidemic has reversed gains in education and healthcare, overwhelming social welfare systems. Traditional community support mechanisms struggle to meet the needs of affected children, leading to increased risks of institutionalization, child labor, and early marriage.{{Cite journal |last=Schmid |first=Jeanette |date=2010-10-01 |title=A History of the Present: Uncovering Discourses in (South African) Child Welfare |url=https://academic.oup.com/bjsw/article-abstract/40/7/2102/1698263 |journal=The British Journal of Social Work |volume=40 |issue=7 |pages=2102–2118 |doi=10.1093/bjsw/bcp124 |issn=0045-3102}}

Children in conflict zones face extreme risks, including violence, displacement, and psychological trauma. Modern warfare often targets civilian infrastructure, leaving children without family support, education, or healthcare. An estimated 10–20% of war-affected children develop psychiatric conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) without intervention. Family disintegration and revenge fantasies among traumatized youth further complicate long-term recovery.

Many countries lack the financial and human resources needed for functional child protection services. Legal frameworks may exist, but implementation is impaired by underfunded social services, leading to reliance on NGOs and charities.{{Cite journal |last=Johnson |first=Afrooz Kaviani |last2=Sloth-Nielsen |first2=Julia |date=2020-07-01 |title=Child protection, safeguarding and the role of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child: Looking back and looking ahead |url=https://pure.hud.ac.uk/en/publications/child-protection-safeguarding-and-the-role-of-the-african-charter#:~:text=This%20analysis%20is%20based%20on%20a%20comprehensive%20review,(article%201)%20and%20Systems%20Strengthening%20for%20Child%20Protection. |journal=African Human Rights Law Journal |volume=20 |issue=2 |pages=643–666 |doi=10.17159/1996-2096/2020/v20n2a13 |issn=1609-073X|doi-access=free }} A "crisis discourse" often prioritizes emergency interventions over preventive measures, leaving systemic weaknesses ignored.

Child protection frameworks in much of the Global South are influenced by Western models, which emphasize statutory interventions and individual case management over community-based approaches. This "exported discourse" can marginalize indigenous practices and reinforce colonial legacies, sometimes creating mismatches between policy and local realities.

Traditional attitudes sometimes perpetuate harm, such as treating domestic violence as a private matter or stigmatizing abuse victims. Some cultural practices, including forced marriages for pregnant girls, undermine legal protections.

New challenges, such as climate-induced disasters, digital exploitation, and the COVID-19 pandemic, have intensified risks for children. School closures during the pandemic led to spikes in child marriage and gender-based violence, while economic collapse pushed more children into street situations. Online abuse and trafficking have also risen with increased internet access.

These intersecting challenges create a complex environment where child protection systems struggle to function effectively, often leaving vulnerable children without adequate safeguards.

Provincial or state governments' child protection{{Cite news|url=https://www.savethechildren.in/child-protection/|title=Child Protection Services|website=Save the Children|accessdate=June 13, 2023}} legislation empowers the government department or agency to provide services in the area and to intervene in families where child abuse or other problems are suspected. The agency that manages these services has various names in different provinces and states, e.g., Department of Children's Services, Children's Aid, Department of Child and Family Services. There is some consistency in the nature of laws, though the application of the laws varies across the country.

The United Nations has addressed child abuse as a human rights issue, adding a section specifically to children in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

{{blockquote|Recognizing that the child, for the full and harmonious development of his or her personality, should grow up in a family environment, in an atmosphere of happiness, love and understanding should be afforded the right to survival; to develop to the fullest; to protection from harmful influences, abuse and exploitation; and to participate fully in family, cultural and social life.|sign=|source=}}

A key part of child protection work is assessment.

A particular challenge arises where child protection professionals are assessing families where neglect is occurring. Professionals conducting assessments of families where neglect is taking place are said to sometimes make the following errors:{{Cite web|url=https://library.nspcc.org.uk/HeritageScripts/Hapi.dll/search2?CookieCheck=45090.5353539352&searchTerm0=C5727|title=Cookies Required|website=library.nspcc.org.uk|accessdate=June 13, 2023}}

• Failure to ask the right types of question, including
• Whether neglect is occurring?
• Why neglect is occurring?
• What the situation is like for the child?
• Whether improvement in the family are likely to be sustained?
• What needs to be done to ensure the long-term safety of the child?

• Defense for Children International
• ECPAT International
• Free the Children
• Friends-International
• Mannerheim League for Child Welfare
• Odisha State Child Protection Society
• Save the Children
• UNICEF
• War Child
• WE Charity
• World Vision

===Topics===

• Aboriginal child protection
• Adoption and Safe Families Act
• Child abandonment
• Child abuse
• Child harvesting
• Child marriage
• Child Protection and Obscenity Enforcement Act
• Child Protective Services
• Child sexual abuse
• Complex post traumatic stress disorder
• For the children (politics)
• Hague Convention on Parental Responsibility and Protection of Children
• Independent Safeguarding Authority
• Landeros v. Flood
• Minimum Standards for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action
• Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act
• Reactive attachment disorder
• School social work in Hungary
• Transnational child protection

{{reflist}}

• Fieldston, Sara. Raising the World: Child Welfare in the American Century (Harvard University Press, 2015) 316 pp.
• McCutcheon, James, 2010."Historical Analysis and Contemporary Assessment of Foster Care in Texas: Perceptions of Social Workers in a Private, Non-Profit Foster Care Agency". Applied Research Projects. Texas State University Paper 332. [http://ecommons.txstate.edu/arp/332 TXstate.edu] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120318021455/http://ecommons.txstate.edu/arp/332 |date=2012-03-18 }}
• [http://www.ipu.org/PDF/publications/childprotection_en.pdf Handbook: Child protection] UNICEF, IPU, 2004
• Eileen Munro.2008. Effective Child Protection. Publisher-SAGE {{ISBN|1412946956}}, 9781412946957.
• Jeff Fowler. 2003. A Practitioner's Tool for Child Protection and the Assessment of Parents. Publisher Jessica Kingsley Publishers. {{ISBN|1843100509}}, 9781843100508
• Eileen Munro. 2007. Child Protection: Sage Course Companions Series. Publisher- SAGE. {{ISBN|1412911796}}, 9781412911795
• Harries et al. 2008. Reforming Child Protection. Publisher- Taylor & Francis. {{ISBN|0415429056}}, 9780415429054
• Janet Polnay. 2001. Child Protection in Primary Care. Publisher-Radcliffe Publishing. {{ISBN|1857752244}}, 9781857752243
• Chris Beckett. 2007. Child Protection: An Introduction. Publisher-SAGE. {{ISBN|1412920922}}, 9781412920926
• Gerald Cradock. Risk, Morality, and Child Protection: Risk Calculation as Guides to Practice. Science, Technology, & Human Values, Vol. 29, No. 3, Special Issue: Reconstructing Order through Rhetorics of Risk (Summer, 2004), pp. 314–331
• Leigh A. Faulconer. In the Best Interests of Children? Family Relations, Vol. 43, No. 3 (Jul., 1994), pp. 261–263
• Eileen Munro. [https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0145-2134(99)00053-8 Common errors of reasoning in child protection work]

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• [http://www.unicef.org/protection/files/Progress_for_Children-No.8_EN_081309(1).pdf A Report Card on Child Protection] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170829235411/https://www.unicef.org/protection/files/Progress_for_Children-No.8_EN_081309(1).pdf |date=2017-08-29 }}. (PDF-File, 991 KB) — United Nations Children's Fund: Progress for Children, Number 8. September 2009.

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Protection

Category:Social programs

Category:Social work

Category:Children's rights