Developed and validated an instrument for identifying children perceived as vulnerable. Mothers of 1,095 children, aged 4-8 years, completed interviews that included the original 12-item Child Vulnerability Scale. Eight items that correlated best with each of two major variables that contribute to vulnerability were retained in the revised scale and a cutoff score was identified for children pe...

Acknowledgments Thanks to all who contributed ideas and comments on the paper, in particular, Don Dickerson, Norine Jewell, Kevin Osborne, and Brenda Rakama from the POLICY Project. Thanks are also due to POLICY's overseas staff who researched the situation of orphans and vulnerable children in their respective countries and completed the questionnaires that provided valuable information and in...

Children of schizophrenics (n = 36), unipolars (« = 57), bipolars (« = 60), and normals (n = 65) were evaluated on a digit span measure of distractibility with the distraction and nondistraction conditions matched for discriminating power. Whereas there were no between-groups differences in performance in the nondistraction condition, children of schizophrenics and unipolars performed more poor...

Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union (in World Bank terminology, the Europe and Central Asia or ECA region) inherited a child protection system from the socialist period that placed excessive reliance on institutional care as a means of looking after children who were unable to remain with their birth parents in the shorter or longer term. Despite the collapse of the ideology ...

The purpose of the study was to explore and describe the nature of caring for orphaned and vulnerable children in the Neighbourhood Care Points (NCPs) in the Hhohho region, Swaziland. The specific objectives were to identify if the nutritional requirements of the developing child are met; determine if body building, hygiene practices as well as cognitive related activities are done; reveal if t...

Introduction: The role of family support in the care of vulnerable children is rarely discussed, yet has a major impact on family health. How family members’ perceptions of their own health affect their vulnerable children has not been previously explored. Purpose: The objectives of the study were to assess and compare the health status of perception using the Duke Health Profile (DUKE) and per...

We used baseline data, collected in July-September 2009, from a randomized controlled trial of a cash transfer program for vulnerable children in eastern Zimbabwe to investigate the effectiveness, coverage, and efficiency of census- and community-based targeting methods for reaching vulnerable children. Focus group discussions and in-depth interviews with beneficiaries and other stakeholders we...