ChildOut.Org is a space for mutual learning, studies and researches aimed at supplying information and tools to promote the rights of Out-of-Family Children (or OFC) and the network of associations and institutions which take care of them. OFC are, in fact, exposed to a high risk of social exclusion.

ChildOut.Org derives from a project co-financed by the European Commission "Social Inclusion for Out-of-family Children and Young People in Public Childcare", included in the programme "Community Action Programme to Combat Poverty and Social Exclusion 2002-2006".

The project involved five European countries and compares the protection systems dedicated to childhood of Italy, France, Bulgaria, Rumania and Latvia. Then, activities were widened thanks to an additional projects supported by the European Commission.

Since 2006, promotion activities have involved a network of associations including caring families and young people from over 15 countries all over the world, called ‘Il Melograno'. The target of this network is to spread the culture of family care.

The objective of ChildOut.Org and of the network's activities is to promote the development and improvement of alternative family-based childcare options, such as fostering or adoption, in order to guarantee the right of every child to live and grow up within a family as well as to prevent the condition of social exclusion for those care leavers who leave child protection services.

To do this, we are developing a research programme with the contribution of our partners including public authorities, NGOs and Universities committed to family and children affairs in several countries around the world.

Outputs are expected to produce recommendations for policy makers and social workers, so that they may address services and policies for vulnerable families and children at risk of abandonment, as well as methodological best practices.