More and more people agree that institutional care is not good for children. However, there is still a belief that in some situations putting children in institutions is inevitable. A belief that while it is not good, it is still better than the alternative. This belief exists, because there is a lack of awareness of alternative options. The thought is that the only options are leaving the child in a dangerous situation or putting her in an institution.
The good news is that this is not true. There is a family-based alternative, also in emergency situations. In this blog we will look at what that is.
The thinking that I have come across frequently over the past while has been that we want children to go into families and not institutions, but sometimes a child is being abused and needs to be taken out of their family immediately, or in a conflict situation a child is left on his own. Assessment of the child’s situation and the development of an individual care plan (necessary for adequate care) take time, so the child needs to go somewhere in the meantime, while a long-term or permanent solution is arranged. Up to here the reasoning is absolutely true and I have nothing to bring up against it. But this is the point where many people take a turn. The only kind of alternative care they know able to take in children with no notice at all, is institutional care, so they feel that in these situations it is simply inevitable to put a child in an institution.
This is a perfectly logical conclusion to draw, when you are unfamiliar with other options. This makes it so important to create awareness about the alternative.
You may be pleasantly surprised to hear that in many countries – and not just high-income countries, also low income ones and countries in a state of war – emergency foster care has been developed for the precise purpose of preventing children ending up in an institution when they urgently need to be placed outside their own family. Emergency foster care is a bit different from regular foster care.
Families who agree to become emergency foster carers receive training on how to deal with children who arrive, usually from a very traumatic situation. They will take in the child at any time of the day or night, often they are told only an hour or less in advance that a child is coming. And this child will only stay with this family for a short time, while social services develop an individual care plan and prepare the situation where the child can stay longer – this could be back to her own family, if the dangerous situation can be resolved, or placed in a long term foster family.
By having emergency foster families, you eliminate the need for institutions to take in children in the meantime. So you see, there is no need for institutional care, family-based solutions can be found for all situations.
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