Notre Dame’s GC-DWC Director Joins Effort to Safeguard the Rights and Dignity of the Child

Neil Boothby, Professor and Director of the University of Notre Dame’s Global Center for the Development of the Whole Child (GC-DWC), has joined a major new initiative, "From Crisis to Care: Catholic Action for Children." This global effort, featuring Vatican and union-level co-sponsorship for the Rome convening, seeks to transform how the Church and its partners protect and nurture the world’s most vulnerable children. Notre Dame will serve as a research and program learning partner to support this work.

Answering Pope Francis’ urgent call to safeguard the rights, dignity, and well-being of children, the initiative is convened by Catholic Relief Services (CRS), the GHR Foundation, and the Vatican’s Dicastery for Integral Human Development. It is further supported by co-sponsorship from Holy See institutions and religious unions, including the Union of Superiors General, International Union of Superiors General, Pontifical Academy for Life. Working directly with children and families across five continents, the initiative aims to culminate in a public action plan to support Church leaders, communities, and partners, ensuring that every child grows up in safe, nurturing family care supported by strong, coherent systems. Boothby serves as a member of the planning group, contributing the GC-DWC’s evidence-based research to the broader initiative.

"As a Catholic research university, Notre Dame is uniquely positioned to lead," said Boothby. "By supporting this global initiative, we are ensuring that the GC-DWC’s evidence-based research on child development is directly supporting the Church’s global network of care."

The initiative held its inaugural meeting in Vatican City on February 5, 2026. During an audience at Clementine Hall, His Holiness Pope Leo XIV welcomed their commitment to develop effective ways to address the concerns of children. He identified two essential points for the initiative’s mission: first, that they are “speaking on behalf of those who have no voice,” and second, the need to focus on the “transversal needs of children,” which can be overlooked when care is focused only on one area. He urged the committee to work in "greater harmony so that children receive care that is well balanced, taking into consideration their physical, psychological and spiritual welfare".

Aligning Research with Notre Dame’s Mission

The GC-DWC’s involvement in this initiative is a powerful reflection of Notre Dame’s mission to be a "transformative force for good" in the world. It specifically advances the University’s Strategic Framework 2033, which identifies "Global Catholicism," "Poverty," and "Health and Well-being" as central priorities for the coming decade.

Boothby and the GC-DWC bring a wealth of experience to the "From Crisis to Care" framework. Since its inception, the Center’s research and programs have spanned 26 countries, demonstrating a proven ability to translate complex developmental science into practical solutions for families and communities worldwide. A cornerstone of this global reach is the Center's "Whole Child" approach to development, which recognizes that a child’s development is inextricably linked to their environment.

This is operationalized through the GC-DWC’s Parish Activation Model, an integrated framework that leverages the three settings where children are in regular contact with caregivers: the home, school, and church. By embedding developmental science into existing parish life—such as baptismal preparation, homilies, and school curricula—the Center strengthens the very systems that surround the child. Originally developed through the GC-DWC's long-term work in Haiti, this model provides a unique platform for developing and pilot testing programs that can be iteratively refined and then scaled system-wide to reach hundreds of thousands of children globally.

A Shared Framework for Action

The planning group identified five priority areas for future collective action:

• Unified Advocacy and Voice: A call for a collaborative commitment from the Church and society to advocate for child rights through unified policy engagement and education.
• Networking: Partnering across religious, governmental, and academic sectors to dismantle the silos that obstruct the well-being of children and families.
• Centering Children in the Church’s Mission: Placing the dignity and protection of children at the heart of ministry, ensuring robust safeguarding and communities of trust.
• Formation and Capacity Building: A commitment to equipping families, congregations, and institutions with the tools to support and respect the rights of every child.
• Inclusion and Engagement: Ensuring children are active participants in decisions affecting them, creating platforms to amplify their diverse voices and perspectives.

"The GC-DWC's role is to serve as a research partner, helping the Church activate the systems—families, parishes, and schools—that already exist around the child," Boothby added. "It is incredibly powerful to connect science to faith to make these pathways out of adversity actionable. This initiative is about turning a universal mandate into concrete, measurable action on a global scale."

Read the Vatican News article here: https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2026-02/pope-leo-catholic-action-for-children-audience-action-rights.html

About the Global Center for the Development of the Whole Child (GC-DWC)

The Global Center for the Development of the Whole Child (GC-DWC) at the Institute for Educational Initiatives at the University of Notre Dame collaborates with researchers and practitioners to ensure the well-being—physical, emotional, social, and cognitive—of children and adolescents in low-resource and conflict-affected settings. Established to serve as a coherent platform for the Institute for Educational Initiative’s growing portfolio of global child development and learning programs, the GC-DWC creates environments that foster resilience and encourage children and adolescents to thrive. Using an innovative Whole Child Development (WCD) approach tailored to context-specific needs, the GC-DWC translates research into timely and thoughtful action, adapts research tools to improve the development of learning programs and policies, and activates systems (families, schools, communities) to lift children and adolescents out of adversity.

Learn more about the GC-DWC’s work to transform child development globally: iei.nd.edu/gc-dwc

This article was updated on March 17, 2026.