Even though we are all in a hurry to put an end to the institutionalisation of children, we cannot afford to rush the process of deinstitutionalisation. In a previous blog (HERE), I mentioned the dangers of time pressure on the deinstitutionalisation process at the national and international level. In today’s blog, I want to address the dangers of rushing the process at the level of the individual institution, and how hard it is to resist the temptation to give in to the push to go faster.
Continue reading “Do Not Rush Deinstitutionalisation”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.
Childonomics
During the IFCO seminar in London, last December, I was first introduced to the concept of Childonomics, when Jana Hainsworth, Secretary General of Eurochild, mentioned it in her presentation. The little I learned about it that day immediately caught my imagination. And as soon as I was able to find the time to dive deeper into it, I did and became even more interested.
Continue reading “Childonomics”Teenagers Will Rebel
At the IFCO seminar in London, early December, Jackie Sanders of the Fostering Network made an interesting remark. She mentioned speaking to a young adult who had been in foster care, who told her that at 16 years old, she had told her social worker that she wanted a different foster family, because she could not stand her foster parents, and the social worker had said ‘okay’, and the girl had been moved. Looking back as a young adult, she realised that this was crazy, that teenagers will all at some point feel that they do not want to live with their parents (regardless of whether they are her foster or birth parents) anymore and that this should never be allowed to lead to a placement breakdown. Yet, it did.
Continue reading “Teenagers Will Rebel”Careleaver's Perspective
At the IFCO seminar in London, early last month, Billie-Jo McDowell, who is a social worker, an IFCO Youth Member, and someone who has personally experienced being in alternative care, gave a presentation to provide insights from a different perspective. Although everyone involved in setting up and running social and child protection systems does their best to ensure that children’s needs are being met and that their best interest is kept at the centre of their care, in the end they do not have the same understanding of what it is to be in alternative care as someone who has actually experienced it.
Continue reading “Careleaver's Perspective”Kinship Care Cannot Be 'Dump and Run'
Lucy Peake of Grandparent Plus gave a presentation on kinship care in the UK at the IFCO seminar in London early last month. It was striking how heartwarming and heartbreaking the situation she described was, at the same time. Heartwarming because of the large numbers of people willing to take the child of a relative or good friend into their home. And heartbreaking because of how little support they are given and the terrible situations that this can lead to.
Continue reading “Kinship Care Cannot Be 'Dump and Run'”Just Add Another One
At the IFCO seminar in London last month, Jackie Sanders, from the Fostering Network gave a presentation looking at how foster care had developed in the UK from the 1970s to now. The contrast was striking and the lessons learned are particularly important for people, like me, working on setting up foster care systems, helping them avoid the same pitfalls.
Continue reading “Just Add Another One”Deinstitutionalisation Is Still Relevant in All of Europe
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.
Continue reading “Deinstitutionalisation Is Still Relevant in All of Europe”Foster Carer or Foster Parent?
Should we be referring to the people caring for a foster child as foster carers, or as foster parents? It seems like a trivial matter, but that is not necessarily the case. As we have seen in a previous blog (you can find it HERE) language can make a big difference in how things are perceived, how much cooperation you can expect, and even how people act.
Continue reading “Foster Carer or Foster Parent?”Involving Everyone
At the IFCO Seminar in London, last month, IFCO President Danielle Douglas held a talk about where she feels foster care and kinship care are heading, particularly in a global perspective. During this talk she brought up many important points such as the need for more data, the need to take include marginalised children in planning and building of services and the importance of deinstitutionalisation. However, for this blog, I want to lift out a particular topic that she raised, one that is ignored far too often: taking into account the rights and needs of ALL different actors in the fostering relationship.
Continue reading “Involving Everyone”Intercountry Social Work
A month ago, I attended the Children and Families Across Borders (CFAB) Annual Child Protection Lecture. It was an interesting evening, and it introduced me to something that I had not really come across previously: international social work.
Continue reading “Intercountry Social Work”