The European interinstitutional network ChildONEurope organizes seminars in order to endorse and support the discussion over sensitive issues in the framework of child social policy. ChildONEurope has been proactive in the social policy sectors since its inception, in particular, because the issues to be addressed by the ChildONEurope annual seminar are indicated by its General Assembly, the decision making body of the network which is composed of both national Ministries competent on social policy addressed to children and adolescents and national observatories monitoring the condition of the youngest generation. Therefore, the thematic focus of each ChildONEurope annual seminar is related to the needs of children and adolescents as intercepted at the national level by policy-makers and monitoring institutions. This seventh volume of the ChildONEurope Series contains the collection of papers related to the European Seminar on Alternative forms of care for children without adequate family support: sharing good practices and positive experiences held at the ChildONEurope headquarters in Florence, on the 4th October 2012. This ninth ChildONEurope seminar is aimed at sharing good practices and positive experiences at the European level among policymakers, practitioners and scholars. Therefore it was attended by representatives of the Ministries of family, social policies and childhood along with academic experts, representatives of the social sector, NGOs and practitioners operating in the field. On the basis of a decision of the ChildONEurope General Assembly of April 2012, the partners of the inter-institutional network decided to focus on the issue of out of home children. This subject became a priority concern in recent years for policy-makers in different countries of the European Union, in particular as a result of the process of de-institutionalization and the increasing importance devoted to the centrality of the person and his/her specific needs and rights on the part of services providers and policy-makers. The seminar was opened by Nigel Cantwell, Independent Consultant on Child Protection, who highlighted two issues as the main focus of the international and national discussion on the condition of children deprived of their family environment: (1) the ‘necessity principle, namely the attempt to reduce the need of alternative forms of care for children, and (2) the ‘suitability principle', namely the search for a suitable solution for every single child who needs care. At present, NGOs, as well as governments, are increasingly involved in the drafting of the guidelines aimed at developing strategies in the prevention of family breakdown. Notwithstanding the efforts undertaken in this direction, the need to recur to forms of care external to the family context is still evident. As a result, the suitability of the care offered requires the inclusion of the perspectives of children in the planning of the intervention and in its evaluation. The interventions by Mona Sandbæk (Head of Department of Social Work, Child Welfare and Social Policy in Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences) and Valerio Belotti (Sociology Professor at the University of Padua, Italy) focused in particular on these aspects. Also the interventions by Michela Costa from Eurochild and Samantha Tedesco from SOS Children's Villages 7 contributed to the debate on these key subjects. In particular, the first intervention provided a comparative European analysis of national experiences of children in alternative care, while the second focused on the meaning of “quality care” to children. Finally, three working groups addressed specific aspects related to the organization of out of home care for children. The first was devoted to the issue of the “empowerment and participation of children and young people in care” and was coordinated by Valerio Belotti. The second working group addressed the issue of “family foster care: children living with non-relative adults who have been trained, assessed, and licensed or certified to provide shelter and care” and was facilitated by Vincent Ramon, Project officer for ANPF French fostering network. The third working group focused on the topic of residential/group care and was coordinated by Jean-Louis Nouvel, PhD psychiatrist, President of Riafet French treatment foster care network.