Child protection policy

Across the world, significant numbers of children experience maltreatment, resulting in life-long consequences for victims (World Health Organization, 2016). Responses to child maltreatment in the Global South, in particular, are under-researched and under-conceptualized.

In the Philippines, despite the significance and impact of child maltreatment (Ramiro, et al., 2010), policy and research on this topic remains in its infancy. Policy imperatives in this area are given greater impetus, with increasing international awareness of the need for children to grow up in safe and stable environments and to be protected from abuse and neglect (Price Robertson, et al., 2014), particularly in circumstances of significant child poverty and deprivation (Philippine Statistics Authority and United Nations Children’s Fund, 2015).