Laws and Policies to Support Well Being of Children: An International Comparative Analysis

Purpose:

The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), adopted by the UN in 1989, articulates specific minimum standards regarding the rights and welfare of children. With the exception of Somalia and the United States, all countries ratified the CRC. Shortly after the CRC, concerns were raised about the extent to which countries were implementing related policies and laws, especially among the least developed and middle income countries. The purpose of this research was to describe the current progress of countries in developing policies to support the rights and well being of children.

Data:

UNICEF offices from 131 different least developed countries (LDCs) and middle income countries (MICs) were surveyed about their respective country's policies to support the well being of children. Survey items included efforts to promote family preservation and family ties, family-based care over institutionalization, child participation in institutional placement decisions. A total of 68 surveys were returned, reflecting a 52% response rate (LDCs, n = 25, MICs, n = 43). We further conducted cluster analysis to determine the correlates of relatively high and relatively low levels of implementation of laws and policies to protect children.

Results:

Over 75% of the countries surveyed had policies related to the abuse and neglect of children, maternity leave, removal of children from family, family care, adoption and guardianship. The least common policies among the countries were school feeding programs (21%), subsidized daycare (34%), and use of institutional care (34%). Chi-square tests indicated that MICs had a substantially higher number of policies related to child allowances, school feeding programs, maternity leave and day care, and removal of children from family.

Recommendations:

The analysis shows that many LDCs and MICs have adopted policies to support the well being of children. However, the results of this survey indicate that policies are not comprehensive and largely exclude children from placement decisions. Further development of laws and policies is necessary in some of the countries studied, particularly the least developed countries. Cooperation with NGOs, international organizations, and industrialized countries can be a way of assisting countries in improving policies to support the rights and welfare of children.