Maestral recently worked with UNICEF Bulgaria, in close cooperation with the Government of Bulgaria, to conduct a national study on children with offending behaviour and in conflict with the law, providing an updated evidence base to inform reform of Bulgaria’s child justice system. The study examined the nature and extent of child offending—including children below the age of criminal responsibility—through desk review, field research across five appellate judicial districts, and consultations with over 300 stakeholders and children. It assessed the legal and institutional framework, reviewed services, and gathered insights from children and caregivers to better understand the drivers of offending behaviour and gaps in support systems. Across Europe, child justice systems are increasingly being called to move beyond punitive approaches and align with child rights standards. Bulgaria presents a particularly important case: while child offending is declining, the system continues to rely on outdated legal concepts, fragmented institutional arrangements, and responses that do not adequately address root causes. The study highlights a critical paradox. While the number of children formally convicted has declined, many children, including those below the age of criminal responsibility, are still subject to administrative “educational measures.” These measures include placement in correctional institutions that restrict liberty. In parallel, children with behavioural difficulties are also placed in residential services within the child protection system as a protection measure. Together, these pathways blur the line between protection and punishment and often operate in silos. A central message is that children’s contact with the justice system rarely reflects deliberate criminal intent. Rather, it stems from cumulative disadvantage—including poverty, family instability, educational exclusion, discrimination, exposure to violence, and unmet psychosocial needs. This points to the need for earlier, coordinated prevention and support. In this sense, child offending is fundamentally a child protection issue—not simply a justice issue. Despite this, responses remain largely reactive, prioritising supervision and control over prevention and rehabilitation. Outdated provisions, particularly those related to “antisocial behaviour”, allow punitive responses to non-criminal acts such as truancy or running away, further entrenching vulnerability. At the same time, there are strong signs of readiness for reform. Professionals across sectors recognise current limitations and show openness to alternatives such as diversion, restorative justice, and early intervention. Civil society organisations already demonstrate effective approaches, including family-based support, trauma-informed care, and community-level services. The study identifies three priority areas for reform: aligning the legal framework with international standards; shifting from institutional to community-based responses; and strengthening coordination, data systems, and efforts to address inequality, particularly for marginalized children. Together, these findings point to a clear direction: building a child justice system that protects rights, prioritizes rehabilitation, and addresses underlying vulnerabilities. This work was delivered by Maestral’s team of consultants, including Viktoria Perschler, Manfred Nowak, Manu Krishan, Maria Yanakieva, and Zhaklina Georgieva Andonova.
by Anna Jolly & Olha Boyko (Maestral International), in partnership with the Coordination Centre for Family Upbringing and Child Care Development Ukraine is turning its commitment to global care reform into concrete national action. On 30th June 2026, the government of Ukraine formally submitted Ukraine’s national commitments under the Global Charter on Children’s Care Reform, following a three-month process supported by Maestral International’s Anna Jolly and Olha Boyko in collaboration with the Coordination Centre for Family Upbringing and Child Care Development (Coordination Centre). The commitments were shaped through a structured, multi-stakeholder process. Maestral reviewed Ukraine’s existing national strategic frameworks and worked with the national stakeholders to identify eight potential commitments. An online stakeholder consultation, held in early June with the support of the Coordination Centre, brought together central executive bodies , in particular the Ministry of Social Policy, Family and Unity of Ukraine, National Social Service of Ukraine, and the State Service for Children) as well as civil society organisations to review and prioritise the proposed commitments. Participants identified their priority areas, and the highest-priority options were further refined and finalised before formal submission. Importantly, the process connected the Global Charter with reforms already underway in Ukraine. Proposed commitments were carefully mapped against Ukraine’s National Strategy (2024–2028) and ongoing EU Child Guarantee processes, helping to ensure that the Global Charter complemented rather than duplicated existing national efforts. The final Ukrainian commitments for the Global Charter are the following: Establish a comprehensive, standardized system for enhancing the professional competence and qualifications of the social sector workforce. Develop and implement models of the social service of temporary respite care for parents and caregivers of children with disabilities. Consolidate and expand emergency foster care based on lessons learned. Implement the state social service standard of social support for family-based alternative care, and ensure monitoring of its quality and impact. The commitments reflect coordinated engagement across government, civil society, and technical partners, while remaining firmly grounded in Ukraine’s existing frameworks and reform priorities. The stakeholders involved in the consultations described the process as well organized, collaborative and efficient and noted that the resulting commitments accurately reflect national priorities and provide a strong foundation for implementation. Maestral congratulates the Ministry of Social Policy, Family and Unity of Ukraine, and all national stakeholders on this important milestone as Ukraine moves from commitment to implementation.
The UK Biobank project is a prospective cohort study with deep genetic and phenotypic data collected on approximately 500,000 individuals from across the United Kingdom, aged between 40 and 69 at recruitment. The open resource is unique in its size and scope. A rich variety of phenotypic and health-related information is available on each participant, including biological measurements, lifestyle indicators, biomarkers in blood and urine, and imaging of the body and brain. Follow-up information is provided by linking health and medical records. Genome-wide genotype data have been collected on all participants, providing many opportunities for the discovery of new genetic associations and the genetic bases of complex traits. Here we describe the centralized analysis of the genetic data, including genotype quality, properties of population structure and relatedness of the genetic data, and efficient phasing and genotype imputation that increases the number of testable variants to around 96 million. Classical allelic variation at 11 human leukocyte antigen genes was imputed, resulting in the recovery of signals with known associations between human leukocyte antigen alleles and many diseases.
Clare Bycroft, Colin Freeman, Desislava Petkova et al.
BACKGROUND: This paper revisits the themes of an influential 1993 review regarding the factors shaping the mental health and psychosocial well-being of refugees to take stock of developments in the evidence base and conceptualisation of issues for refugee children over the last 25 years. METHODS: The study deployed a systematic search strategy. This initially identified 784 papers, which was reduced to 65 studies following application of inclusion and exclusion criteria. We used a later iteration of Bronfenbrenner's bioecological model of human development - the PPCT model - to consolidate evidence. RESULTS: We identify a range of risk and protective factors operating at individual, familial, community and institutional and policy levels that influence outcomes for refugee children. The dynamics shaping the interaction of these influences are linked to the life course principles of socio-historical time and developmental age, proximal processes and child agency. CONCLUSIONS: Actions at individual, familial, community, school, institutional and policy levels all have potential traction on mental health and psychosocial well-being of refugee children. However, evidence suggests that greatest impact will be secured by multilevel interventions addressing synergies between ecological systems, approaches engaging proximal processes (including parenting programmes) and interventions facilitating the agency of the developing refugee child.
BACKGROUND: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), Attention-deficit/Hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and other related neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) have, in some previous studies, been shown to increase the risk of being sexually victimized. However, no studies have examined whether the association is driven by a general NDD phenotype versus specific diagnoses, nor the etiology of the association. METHOD: Using a genetically informative, prospective design, we examined the association between ASD and ADHD in childhood and coercive sexual victimization up to age 18. A total of 4,500 children participating in the Child and Adolescent Twin Study in Sweden (CATSS) were rated by their parents on NDDs at age 9 or 12 years, and self-reported at age 18 on lifetime experiences of coercive sexual touching and/or coercive sex. First, we regressed sexual victimization on the NDDs. Second, we regressed sexual victimization on general and specific NDD symptoms identified via a bifactor model. Third, we decomposed the observed associations into genetic and environmental parts. RESULTS: In females, ASD was associated with an almost threefolded increased risk of coercive sexual victimization, and ADHD with a doubled risk. In males, the risk associated with ASD and ADHD was of the same magnitude but not significant. When controlling for overall NDD symptom load ASD or ADHD, no longer uniquely predicted coercive sexual victimization. The association between the NDD general factor and coercive sexual victimization was due to shared genetics. CONCLUSIONS: General NDD symptom load, rather than specific ASD or ADHD symptoms, seems to be a moderate vulnerability factor for coercive sexual victimization. We speculate that an evocative gene-environment correlation might account for this observation, such that sexual perpetrators actively target NDD individuals.
Agnes Ohlsson Gotby, Paul Lichtenstein, Niklas Långström et al.
BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly changed the lives of children and adolescents, forcing them into periods of prolonged social isolation and time away from school. Understanding the psychological consequences of the UK's lockdown for children and adolescents, the associated risk factors, and how trajectories may vary for children and adolescents in different circumstances is essential so that the most vulnerable children and adolescents can be identified, and appropriate support can be implemented. METHODS: Participants were a convenience sample of parents and carers (n = 2,988) in the UK with children and adolescents aged between 4 and 16 years who completed an online survey about their child's mental health. Growth curve analysis was used to examine the changes in conduct problems, hyperactivity/inattention, and emotional symptoms between the end of March/beginning of April and July using data from monthly assessments over four months. Additionally, growth mixture modelling identified mental health trajectories for conduct problems, hyperactivity/inattention, and emotional symptoms separately, and subsequent regression models were used to estimate predictors of mental health trajectory membership. RESULTS: Overall levels of hyperactivity and conduct problems increased over time, whereas emotional symptoms remained relatively stable, though declined somewhat between June and July. Change over time varied according to child age, the presence of siblings, and with Special Educational Needs (SEN)/Neurodevelopmental Disorders (ND). Subsequent growth mixture modelling identified three, four, and five trajectories for hyperactivity/inattention, conduct problems, and emotional symptoms, respectively. Though many children maintained 'stable low' symptoms, others experienced elevated symptoms by July. These children were more likely to have a parent/carer with higher levels of psychological distress, to have SEN/ND, or to be younger in age. CONCLUSIONS: The findings support previous literature and highlight that certain risk factors were associated with poorer mental health trajectories for children and adolescents during the pandemic.
BACKGROUND: This study investigates the causal relationships between reading and print exposure and investigates whether the amount children read outside school determines how well they read, or vice versa. Previous findings from behavioural studies suggest that reading predicts print exposure. Here, we use twin-data and apply the behaviour-genetic approach of direction of causality modelling, suggested by Heath et al. (), to investigate the causal relationships between these two traits. METHOD: Partial data were available for a large sample of twin children (N = 11,559) and 262 siblings, all enrolled in the Netherlands Twin Register. Children were assessed around 7.5 years of age. Mothers completed questionnaires reporting children's time spent on reading activities and reading ability. Additional information on reading ability was available through teacher ratings and performance on national reading tests. For siblings reading test, results were available. RESULTS: The reading ability of the twins was comparable to that of the siblings and national norms, showing that twin findings can be generalized to the population. A measurement model was specified with two latent variables, Reading Ability and Print Exposure, which correlated .41. Heritability analyses showed that Reading Ability was highly heritable, while genetic and environmental influences were equally important for Print Exposure. We exploited the fact that the two constructs differ in genetic architecture and fitted direction of causality models. The results supported a causal relationship running from Reading Ability to Print Exposure. CONCLUSIONS: How much and how well children read are moderately correlated. Individual differences in print exposure are less heritable than individual differences in reading ability. Importantly, the present results suggest that it is the children's reading ability that determines how much they choose to read, rather than vice versa.
Elsje van Bergen, Margaret J. Snowling, Eveline L. de Zeeuw et al.
BACKGROUND: Some studies suggest that children with language and learning disorders (LLDs) show more internalizing and externalizing problems than their peers. However, the available evidence remains inconsistent, especially regarding the conditions under which these psychological problems occur. METHODS: We performed a meta-analysis of studies comparing children with LLDs and controls on internalizing (53 independent samples, 135 effect sizes) and externalizing problems (37 independent samples, 61 effect sizes) separately. RESULTS: Children with LLDs showed higher internalizing (Hedges' g = 0.36) and externalizing problems (Hedges' g = 0.42) than controls did. The group standardized difference in internalizing problems was moderated by the primary disorder, with children with language disorders showing more internalizing problems than those with reading disorders. The severity of the primary disorder, IQ, and age did not moderate Hedge's g between children with LLDs and controls in internalizing and externalizing outcomes. The same pattern was found for gender as a moderator of Hedge's g in internalizing problems, while findings for externalizing problems were inconclusive. The results were consistent when methodological variables were assessed, also for informant, sample size, and geographical area. Clinical samples with LLDs reported higher internalizing problems respect to those with difficulties, but findings on externalizing outcomes were limited. Similarly, results on the presence of additional symptoms in learning and language, self-concept, and socioeconomic status were inconclusive, as few studies reported this information. Results were robust when publication bias, publication year, and study quality were assessed. CONCLUSIONS: There is evidence that children with LLDs report higher internalizing and externalizing problems than controls do. Children with language disorders seemed more vulnerable to report more internalizing problems, and clinical samples reported higher problems than those with difficulties. For clinical practice, assessment and interventions should target socioemotional skills to support the psychological well-being of children with LLDs.
Enrica Donolato, Ramona Cardillo, Irene C. Mammarella et al.
BACKGROUND: Effective multisensory processing develops in infancy and is thought to be important for the perception of unified and multimodal objects and events. Previous research suggests impaired multisensory processing in autism, but its role in the early development of the disorder is yet uncertain. Here, using a prospective longitudinal design, we tested whether reduced visual attention to audiovisual synchrony is an infant marker of later-emerging autism diagnosis. METHODS: We studied 10-month-old siblings of children with autism using an eye tracking task previously used in studies of preschoolers. The task assessed the effect of manipulations of audiovisual synchrony on viewing patterns while the infants were observing point light displays of biological motion. We analyzed the gaze data recorded in infancy according to diagnostic status at 3 years of age (DSM-5). RESULTS: Ten-month-old infants who later received an autism diagnosis did not orient to audiovisual synchrony expressed within biological motion. In contrast, both infants at low-risk and high-risk siblings without autism at follow-up had a strong preference for this type of information. No group differences were observed in terms of orienting to upright biological motion. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that reduced orienting to audiovisual synchrony within biological motion is an early sign of autism. The findings support the view that poor multisensory processing could be an important antecedent marker of this neurodevelopmental condition.
Terje Falck‐Ytter, Pär Nyström, Gustaf Gredebäck et al.
