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.

NGOs ‘Helping’ Where There Are No State-Run Institutions

Posted on April 22, 2019January 4, 2020 by Florence

In 2018 Rwanda announced that they are planning to be the first country in Africa without orphanages by 2022. A nice sentiment, and I hope they will be able to get rid of all institutions by then, but they will not get the prize. Because Comoros is way ahead of them, it does not have, and never had, any residential childcare institutions.

However, with regards to countries without childcare institutions, during my work on the report ‘Alternative Care for Children Around the Globe’ (which you can download HERE), I was struck by a troubling issue: NGOs or faith-based organisations jumping in in places where there were no residential childcare institutions run by the government, to open orphanages.

How the Report Changed My Life

Posted on April 18, 2019January 4, 2020 by Florence

In the past two blogs I have written about what I did for the report ‘Alternative Care for Children Around the Globe’ (which you can download HERE), in this blog I want to tell you something about what the report – or rather the working on the research project that led to the report – has done for me. It is not that often that working on a project makes you change the direction of your life and work, but in this case, it really did.

Developing the Report

Posted on April 15, 2019January 4, 2020 by Florence

A week ago the report ‘Alternative Care for Children Around the Globe’ was made available to the public (it can be downloaded HERE). In the previous blog, I wrote about how I ended up starting this enormous project in the summer of 2015. This week I would like to dive into another question that I get asked quite a lot with regards to the report: How did you find all of that information?

The Report Is Out

Posted on April 11, 2019January 4, 2020 by Florence

This week a major milestone was reached: ‘Alternative Care for Children Around the Globe’, the report giving an overview of the child protection and alternative care situation – and circumstances that impact it – for all autonomous countries in the world, was finally finished. It is now available to the public as a free download, which you can find HERE.

Podcast Orphanage Industry

Posted on April 8, 2019March 30, 2024 by Florence

In today’s podcast some real-life examples of the realities of the orphanage industry. Giving an insight into the mentality of the people running ‘orphanages’ in order to get money from donors and into the impact on the children.

The next podcast will be posted in four weeks.

Please share this to help spread awareness.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 20:56 — 18.3MB)

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Ending Poverty Is Too Much to Ask

Posted on April 5, 2019March 12, 2019 by Florence

Poverty is a major reason for children ending up in care and especially for them ending up in institutions, as we have seen in various blogs (HERE and HERE). So combating poverty is an important part of ending institutionalisation. However, this does not mean that we have to put an end to poverty world-wide in order to prevent children from ending up in institutions.

World Autism Day

Posted on April 2, 2019March 12, 2019 by Florence

Today is World Autism Awareness Day. I consider it very important that awareness is raised about autism, both as an advocate for children with autism who are often more likely to end up in an institution, and as someone who is on the spectrum herself.

India Trip

Posted on April 1, 2019September 30, 2019 by Florence

As I am about to get on an airplane again, to go home tomorrow, it seems like a good moment to look back on the weeks I have spent in India and the work I have done here.

As many of you know, before I founded Why Family-Based Solutions, I ran Orphanage Projects. This trip has been an interesting juxtaposition of the work of those two. Having spent half of it on strategising for deinstitutionalisation and the other half on still improving conditions in several institutions.

DI: Resources

Posted on March 28, 2019March 12, 2019 by Florence

When the idea of deinstitutionalisation is first mentioned at an institution, there is usually a lot of push-back. Among the first arguments to be brought up are usually: ‘but we have all these buildings here’, and ‘what about our staff, they will all be out of work’. These are understandable concerns, but – as we shall see in this blog – not things that need to be obstacles.

World TB Day

Posted on March 25, 2019March 12, 2019 by Florence

Yesterday was World TB Day. Tuberculosis is a healthcare issue, of course, but it is also one relevant with regards to institutional care. First of all, as long as TB still goes around, it spreads like wildfire in places where children live close together, for example in so-called orphanages.