Child Welfare

Child welfare is concerned with the social administration of children’s lives in organized welfare states. The aim of child welfare is to promote children’s development, safety, and well-being. Contemporary uses of the term child welfare tend to refer to services related to adoption, the prevention of abuse and neglect, and living in state care. Social work is the profession most directly responsible for the delivery of child welfare policies in collaboration with teachers, health professionals, and parents. Child protection is the most recognizable service in which children’s welfare in enacted, although child welfare is much broader including the state’s responsibility for children’s economic prosperity. The entry provides an overview of the emergence of child welfare from an international perspective. It looks at different theoretical approaches that inform the practice and organization of children’s welfare. Finally, it looks at research on children’s experiences of child welfare services.