Vilnius Congress: Scientific Program

Welcome to this year’s Scientific Congress on “Child Well-being in a Changing Reality.” We are honored to gather together in our shared mission to protect and promote the well-being of children, especially those who face violence, abuse, or neglect. Through networking and collaboration, we aim to advance knowledge, create practical solutions, and strengthen systems that prioritize the needs of every child.  One of our key focuses is the empowerment of child victims and survivors. It is critical that we center their rights, needs, and well-being. Children who witness or experience trauma are more aware than we realize, and it is our responsibility to guide and support them, preventing recantation and ensuring their voices are heard.

Special attention will be given to extra-vulnerable groups such as children in foster care, LGBTQI+ youth, and those with disabilities. We invite you to share evidence-based knowledge and expertise on how to create safe and ethical spaces for children to participate meaningfully in research and decision-making. Many children and families are caught between fragmented systems such as legal, social, and health services. Thus, it would be valuable to focus our discussions on improving collaboration among sectors to prevent children from being lost within the system and to ensure timely and effective interventions. Addressing issues like gatekeeping in child protection cases is essential, as is the need for a cohesive circle of support that balances justice with care for children in crisis.

We must rethink what success looks like for survivors of violence. Beyond immediate safety, we need to consider long-term outcomes such as mental health, socioeconomic impacts, and the intergenerational transmission of trauma. Victims of child-on-child abuse or those in the victim-offender overlap face complex outcomes, and we must adopt trauma-informed approaches and trauma transformative practice to help them recover and thrive. Education is a powerful tool for prevention and protection. Whether in formal schools or non-formal settings like religious or recreational groups, we must ensure that children feel safe and supported. Addressing bullying, providing comprehensive sexuality education, creating safeguarding policies and scaling up parenting programs are key to creating environments that prevent abuse and promote well-being.

Children’s safety in the digital environment is now also a major concern globally. The rapid growth of technology exposes children to risks like cyberbullying, sexting, and online grooming. We invite scholars, practitioners, researchers, decision-makers, and all involved with children to discuss how we can prepare children to navigate these risks and ensure that policies and practices protect them in this evolving landscape. Lastly, we call for your studies and insights on evidence-based strategies to prevent and combat child abuse. This includes, but is not limited to improving measurement tools, addressing research gaps, and enhancing system efficiency in child protective services. By sharing insights and refining our methods, we can continue to improve outcomes for children worldwide.

Thank you for your dedication and passion in this crucial work. Together, we will make meaningful strides in advancing the well-being and protection of children in today’s complex and rapidly changing world.  We warmly welcome you to Vilnius to share your work, your ideas and your research.