Editorial

Welcome to the spring 2026 issue of the Scottish Journal of Residential Child Care, another very full issue. As I write this editorial, there is a fragile ceasefire in the war in the Middle East. International aid agencies have reported that hundreds of children have been killed, thousands injured and more than a million displaced by the ongoing conflict (Christou, Tondo & Holmes, 2026). The BBC’s special correspondent Fergal Keane has written extensively about the effects or war on children. In the context of the war in Iran, he writes, ‘The children’s world has shrunk,’ and even when fighting stops, ‘the damage inflicted on young minds and bodies by the violence of bombing, the militarisation of childhood, and the loss of safety will endure long into the future’ (Keane, 2026).