Resources

Toolkit

This online resource was created for parent advocates and their allies wishing to start a parent-led movement to address the harms and injustices of Child Protection systems. The toolkit explores different forms of parent advocacy, including individual, group and policy advocacy.

This hour-long video walks you through IPAN’s Toolkit and explores different models for building an international, parent-led movement fighting for families harmed by Child Protection systems.

This 2020 report published by IPAN and the Better Care Network includes the first international survey of parent advocacy programs addressing the harms of systems of Child Protection.

This 2022 report from Human Rights Watch documents the lack of due process protection and bias in Child Welfare practices in the United States.

In 2024, UNICEF documented the worldwide harms of institutionalizing children and called for countries and international institutions to invest in supporting families.

In 2022 for the first time, the United Nations’ Committee on the Rights of the Child called on states to develop mechanisms to ensure that parents are able to “consistently and meaningfully engage with decision-makers and have their views taken into account in care-related decisions and processes related to policymaking.” The Committee also recommended that parents provide and receive peer support to help reduce reliance on out-of-home care (See Annex II). This report is also available for download in Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish here.

Read the paper that IPAN submitted to the 2021 United Nations' Day of General Discussion on the Rights of the Child that contributed to the decision to include parent participation in the committee's recommendations (see above).

In 2020, a research project funded by the United States Department of Health and Human Services found that a parent-to-parent support program in Washington state increased family reunification rates after foster care placement from 53% to 70%, among other positive impacts.

If you are a parent experiencing a Child Protective investigation or family separation and foster care, a parent advocate may be able to help you. Here you can read more about the kinds of supports that a parent advocate can provide.

While parent advocacy is expanding around the world, there are still many places without any parent advocates. Although parents in many countries and local jurisdictions do have lawyers, often those lawyers only show up in court, leaving the parents to manage their day-to-day struggles alone. In many places, the right to a lawyer is not guaranteed. Parents are left to take on vast bureaucracies all alone, bureaucracies that often treat them as the enemy. If you are a parent who is facing a Child Protective investigation or who has had children removed from your custody, this interview may provide you some useful tips for how to be your own best advocate.