Child Protection Across Borders: Comparing Policy and Systems

Child protection has become an important aspect of child welfare policy in most Western countries. Its heightened importance is the result of a growing recognition of children’s rights, rising expectations about standards of parental care and responsibility, and growing concern about the social exclusions of vulnerable and disadvantaged children. However, although many families are drawn into the child protection system there has been very little comparative research on this aspect of welfare states.

This roundtable is a collaborative product of HESTIA research project (www.projecthestia.com) developed by researchers at the University of Groningen, the University of York and the German Youth Institute, and funded by NORFACE (7 European Framework Programme).

The aim of this roundtable is to analyse the nature and impact of variations in child protection systems in the world through a comparison of four quite different welfare states: England, Germany, the Netherlands and the US. These four countries reflect somewhat different orientations regarding child protection as well as variation in indicators of child wellbeing for the general population of children.

A comparative, thematic analysis of child protection policy and systems in these four countries will be presented. This analysis is based on a detailed review of policies, national statistics and the policy literature in each country. 

In the roundtable, wider assumptions about the role of the state in family life will be discussed (including those regarding the rights of parents), as well as the ways different welfare states seek to balance children’s rights to protection (under the UNCRC)  and parents’ rights to family life (under the Human Rights Act). 

Through this comparative symposium, we expect to generate new insights into child protection policy and practice and so have a significant impact on future developments in child welfare internationally.