International Child Welfare Organizations

The idea of child welfare may be given different, even contradictory, meanings, varying in time and [Page 989]space according to people’s conceptions of childhood and children’s well-being. For this entry, international child welfare is understood, broadly, as a set of practices aimed at ensuring across national borders the promotion and protection of children’s health, safety, and rights. Carried out by a heterogeneous group of entities with distinct resources and outreach, including intergovernmental organizations and international nongovernmental organizations (INGOs), it usually entails a preventive dimension and focuses on avoiding child abuse, exploitation, and neglect and on ensuring appropriate childcare and development. It is typically based on the premise that child welfare is an international public concern, not a private issue to be left, solely, to the ...