During the pandemic crisis, solutions need to be found fast and implemented straight away. Suddenly, what usually took months or years, or what was said to be impossible, is decided on within days and implemented. In some cases, this provides a risk factor. There is not the same scrutiny and due diligence, and some of the solutions that are acceptable for a temporary crisis situation are not at all desirable as a permanent solution. This is something we need to be alert to and to make sure is dealt with appropriately when the recovery phase arrives. However, there are also cases where the crisis has allowed the red tape to be swept aside and the measures that have been advocated for years are suddenly implemented without delay. These should be kept in place.
Continue reading “Making Pandemic Solutions Permanent Solutions”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.
Children in Institutions During the Pandemic
Over the past week, there have been blogs about the issues faced during the Covid-19 pandemic by families facing poverty (HERE), by children in foster care (HERE), and by children who have suddenly be pushed out of institutions as part of the protection measures against the virus (HERE). What we have not looked at yet, are children who are still living in institutions, and it is high time that we did.
Continue reading “Children in Institutions During the Pandemic”Post-Pandemic Child Poverty
It is known that the current Covid-19 pandemic – in combination with the measures taken to mitigate the dangers – has very serious economic consequences, all across the world. We are expected to emerge from the pandemic into an economic recession that is worse than anything seen since the Second World War and that may even rival the situation in the 1930s. There will be widespread job losses, as well as loss of income in other ways. This situation is predicted to push millions more people – including families with children – below the poverty line. And many of those already living below the poverty line below the extreme poverty line.
Continue reading “Post-Pandemic Child Poverty”A New Name
From today Why Family-Based Solutions will be called Family-Based Solutions. This change is made to reflect the shifting focus of the work I am doing. At the start of September, when the NGO is around for two years, I will post a blog giving more details about how my work is evolving. However, today, I would like to explain the change of name by addressing the shift in broader terms.
Continue reading “A New Name”Children in Foster Care and Lockdown
An interesting topic came up at a webinar on Children in Alternative Care I attended during the Eurochild Member Days in June: the effects of lockdown on children in foster care. In various countries, surveys have been held to find out how children in foster care were coping with the lockdown. Some of the results were expected, some less so.
Continue reading “Children in Foster Care and Lockdown”Good News on Child Protection Measures
Over the previous month, I have posted blogs raising awareness about the risks and dangers ahead for vulnerable children, as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and the recession that will follow it. However, I do not just want to focus on the gloomy side. It is important to acknowledge the various plans, measures and campaigns that are being prepared and implemented. So, that is what I would like to do in this blog.
Continue reading “Good News on Child Protection Measures”Call-to-Action: Awareness-Raising
Earlier this week, I sent out another advocacy email to a number of big organisations, with a call to action to mobilise an awareness-raising movement to prevent children being separated from their families unnecessarily. Here is that email:
Continue reading “Call-to-Action: Awareness-Raising”Childonomics for Recovery
In March, I wrote a blog about my discovery of Childonomics (HERE) and the potential that I see in it. When I started to think about the ways in which we need to prepare for the recovery period after the pandemic, the Childonomics methodology sprang to mind almost immediately. In a situation with which everyone is unfamiliar, where no one has a clear idea of what is needed or what would be the best road to take, Childonomics can really provide a tool to help make informed policy decisions.
Continue reading “Childonomics for Recovery”Systemic Racism and Alternative Care
Since the end of May, a spotlight has been put on how far the issues of racial inequality reach, in a way that makes it impossible to ignore anymore. However, while this spotlight and the reaction to it – all over the world – is unprecedented, the problem is not new. And the effects of racial inequality are not limited to police violence. All over the world people of minority racial and ethnic backgrounds – as well as people living in poverty – are marginalised. Anything that might help them succeed or move ahead is placed (almost) beyond their reach and then they are blamed for the situation they find themselves in. This has far-reaching consequences.
Continue reading “Systemic Racism and Alternative Care”Finding the Scattered Children
As mentioned in the email (which you can find HERE), children have been sent back to their families – or simply pushed out of institutions – in various countries at the start of the lockdown. Something which I foresaw would happen back in March (HERE), though this is not something I’m happy to have been right about. Without any preparation, support or monitoring. In fact, in many of these places, no one is entirely sure where these children are right now. And we are talking about thousands of children per country in various countries.
Continue reading “Finding the Scattered Children”