This publication contains the collection of papers related to the European Seminar on “The impact of the economic crisis on children: lessons from the past experiences and future policies” of the European Network of National Observatories on Childhood (ChildONEurope) held in Florence, Istituto degli Innocenti, on 9 June 2011. Through a decision of the ChildONEurope Assembly of June 2010, the partners of the inter-institutional network ChildONEurope turned their attention to the issue of the impact of the economic crisis on children. Therefore, the ChildONEurope Secretariat was entrusted with the organization of a European Seminar on one of the subjects that in recent years became a priority concern for the policy-makers in different countries of the European Union. The Seminar was organized in the context of network activities aimed at favouring the exchange of knowledge and information on childhood policies and interventions. Its main aim was to stimulate a wide-ranging discussion on the possible impacts of the crisis on children's well-being, education, and protection, with special attention on national policy options able to address effectively the phenomenon. The timing of this Seminar was particularly appropriate. A slowdown of economic growth, the increasing widespread poverty and the rising unemployment rate are common aspects of the recent years in Europe. Government programs in education, health, and child protection are often the first to be cut due to budget constraints. Moreover, the global financial crisis is amplifying the effects of the increasing cost of daily life, seriously challenging the abilities of families to cope and of children to thrive. Therefore, the Seminar represents an attempt to place children at the centre of the economic debate, focussing attention on the social policies and protection systems most needed during times of crisis, and addressing essentially the following questions: how the current economic downturn affects the well-being of children? what can be done through social policies to mitigate the harm of these effects? The four plenary papers are personal thoughts by experts on the effects of the crisis on children. Authors include Leonardo Menchini, researcher of the Unicef Innocenti Research Centre, Tess Ridge, professor at the Department of Social and Policy Sciences, University of Bath, United Kingdom, Dominic Richardson, researcher of the Organization for economic cooperation and development (OECD), and Jana Hainsworth, Secretary General of Eurochild. These four main articles have a more topical focus and deal with issues related to the impact of the crisis on children, mechanisms that transmit global shocks to children in poor households, the risk of exclusion for children at the bottom of the well-being scale, the value of a child-centred social investment strategy in particular in the European context and the role of children and family policies in a time of economic crisis. The concluding paper focuses on the role of children's participation in fighting poverty and social exclusion. The proceedings reproduced in this publication gather as well the working groups' reports, focusing on preventing out-of-home child fostering through policies dedicated to child education and family income maintenance, the importance to invest in services dedicated to young children, child participation in the actions against poverty and social exclusion. In particular, with reference to this latter issue, it was introduced by the speeches of national experts such as Eva Borissova (National Network of Children of Bulgaria) and Maria Corbett (Children's Rights Alliance of Ireland).