News about the Coronavirus, or Covid-19, has been hard to escape for the past couple of months. A lot of people are very worried and various media and industries seem to be whipping up the worry into a panic. It can be hard to keep a level head and to know how to take necessary, sensible precautions, without losing yourself in panic. What can also be hard, is to be aware of what the various groups at greatest risk are. Until you are reminded of it inescapably, as I was while I was in India.
Continue reading “Corona Virus and Institutionalised Children”Author: Florence
I am the founder of and consultant at Family-Based Solutions. I have started this website and this community, and I am the moderator. I have been involved in alternative care since 2007, having been involved up close in China, Brazil, India, Kenya and Myanmar.
Initially I ran another NGO dedicated to improving the chance of survival and the quality of life of children in institutions, over time getting more and more involved with family-based alternatives and community services. In 2018 I folded the previous NGO and founded Family-Based Solutions. You can find more information on what I do now on the other pages of this website.
Q&A Video on Deinstitutionalisation
During the Immersive Simulation Lab: Family-Based Care Conference in Pune, on 27 February, I was asked to explain some aspects of the process of moving from institutional care to family-based care, and I did a short Q&A session. Today, instead of a blog, I would like to share the video of that part of the conference with you.
Continue reading “Q&A Video on Deinstitutionalisation”Home from India
This weekend I returned home from just over three weeks in India. As I predicted, in the blog on 17 February, it has been an extremely busy time, but very worthwhile. It has been a question of working straight through, long days of providing training, strategy and exploration meetings, preparing for the conference and holding it, and days of observation and on-the-job training.
Continue reading “Home from India”Own Family, Foster Family, Group Home
When you are moving towards family-based alternative care, the above should be your priority of ranking for placement of children. Individual assessment has to be done for every child to determine what is best in her case. However, through the whole process the thought needs to be: is there any way to return the child to her family safely, if not, can she be placed in foster care, if not, is she better off in a small group home or in a supported living placement (depending on her age and ability). In that order.
Continue reading “Own Family, Foster Family, Group Home”Arranging Services
Having spent some time, recently, looking at the need for individual assessment and how to go about it, it seems useful to address another step in the process of deinstitutionalisation, namely that of mapping and setting up services. In order for children to move from an institution into the community – whether this is to go live with their parents again, to be placed in a foster family or small group home, or to enter supported living – they are going to require the support of a range of services. This means that these services have to be present before the child is moved.
Continue reading “Arranging Services”Making the Placement Decision
Three blogs have just been dedicated to understanding the individual assessment process. However, while gathering the data on the child through the assessments is extremely important, in itself the data is worthless if nothing is done with it. Just having notes on a paper or having an overview in a spreadsheet is not going to automatically lead to a good placement for the child. Something needs to be done with the information gathered.
Continue reading “Making the Placement Decision”Individual Assessments: Who?
After looking at why individual assessments are necessary (HERE) and getting a glimpse at how they should be approached (HERE), it is not unimportant to have a look at ‘who’. With ‘who’, I am not talking about who should be conducting the individual assessment, that was addressed in the ‘how’ blog. Rather we need to take a look at whom you need to get information from.
Continue reading “Individual Assessments: Who?”Immersive Simulation Lab for Family-Based Care
Yesterday, a unique event took place in Pune: an immersive simulation lab conference that allowed key decision-makers with regards to alternative care in Maharashtra to gain first-hand, concrete knowledge on what is involved in establishing family-based care and family strengthening services.
Continue reading “Immersive Simulation Lab for Family-Based Care”Individual Assessments: How?
In the previous blog (HERE), we looked at why it is so important to do individual assessments before making decisions about placements for children. In this blog, we will have a look at how individual assessments should be done. The short version: it is NOT a question of sitting across from a child for an hour with a clipboard with questions and rattle your way through them.
Continue reading “Individual Assessments: How?”Individual Assessments: Why?
When it comes to deciding what kind of placement is best for a child – no matter whether it is for a child who is moved out of an institution, or for a child who is no longer able to live with his family – individual assessments are essential. Without very detailed information about many aspects of the child’s life, experiences, development and feelings, there is no hope of determining what is in the child’s best interest.
Continue reading “Individual Assessments: Why?”