When people talk about the need for deinstitutionalisation, it is usually discussed as something that needs to happen ‘over there’, in ‘less developed’ countries. This creates the impression that in Western Europe, North America, and Australia and New Zealand institutionalisation is a thing of the distant past, but that is not actually true. In some places what is happening is less easily recognisable as institutionalisation because of different terminology or other cosmetic changes, while in other places institutionalisation still continues quite blatantly.
Jana Hainsworth, Secretary General of Eurochild, made a point of shining a light on this in her presentation at the IFCO seminar in London last month. She pointed out that while officially the EU has committed to not providing any funding that goes towards institutional care of children anymore – instead funding deinstitutionalisation, community services and family strengthening – EU funding is still going to the institutionalisation of migrant children in various countries.
Suddenly, because it is about refugee and migrant children, institutionalisation is considered acceptable. Back to the ‘us and them’ problem. Without regard for the Convention on the Rights of Children, which states that states have an obligation to protect the rights of all children within their borders, regardless of whether that child was born in the country or of whether the child is there legally. This is something many countries still struggle with, particularly the ones that adopt an air of superiority when talking about countries where institutionalisation of children is still the norm.
However, as Ms Hainsworth pointed out in her presentation, the problem of institutionalisation of children in Europe is not limited to refugee and migrant children. There are a number of countries in Western Europe, such as Belgium and Portugal, where institutional care is still a regular part of the alternative care system. And she mentioned that she had come across anecdotal evidence that in Germany children under three years old were still placed in residential care – something that the UN Guidelines for Alternative Care warn against. One of the people attending the seminar added that in France there are around 200,000 children in institutional care.
In conclusion, Ms Hainsworth gave the warning that deinstitutionalisation is relevant for all EU countries, not just for those with an ‘identified need’. The countries with an ‘identified need’ may be more obvious in their use of institutional care for children and may have fewer family and community based alternatives available, but that does not mean that they are the only ones requiring attention with regards to this issue.
She ended with a very apt quote from Frederic Douglas, a US abolitionist: “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” This was true then, and is still true now. It would help a lot if policitians finally started to take this to heart more.
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