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”Category: Awareness
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”Agreement on the Need to Get Rid of 'Orphanages'
18 December 2019 was a momentous day for anyone involved in ending institutional care. It was the day that all 193 member states of the UN General Assembly adopted a unique Resolution on the Rights of the Child. This is the first such resolution that addresses the subject of children without parental care, including those in alternative care. And it uses unusually strong language when discussing the risks that this group of children are exposed to.
Continue reading “Agreement on the Need to Get Rid of 'Orphanages'”End of Year
Another year is about to end, and with it we leave the teens of the 21st century behind us. So, some more musings from me on time passing, things developing and life in general. This time last year, I wrote a blog about the increasing momentum of deinstitutionalisation all across the work (you can find it HERE). Over the past year, other promising movements have gathered pace.
Continue reading “End of Year”Involving Parents
At the DI conference in Sofia, last month, Professor Andy Bilson warned people who are involved in social work and alternative care that we need to stop seeing parents as ‘the problem’ and start making them part of the solution. And he made a very strong case for this.
Continue reading “Involving Parents”Christmas Thoughts
Last month my (last surviving) grandmother passed away, if she had still been alive, she would have turned 99 the day after tomorrow, a Christmas baby. I have been thinking lately that, although during my lifetime I have only known her as a potter – always working with clay, making pots and sculptures on commission, and teaching classes – in a way, I am walking in her footsteps, with the work that I am doing. It’s just that they are the footsteps she took earlier in life.
Continue reading “Christmas Thoughts”Life Expectancy of Institutionalised Children
During one of the reflective sessions at the DI conference, in Sofia last month, one of the participants mentioned that we need to give more thought to preparing young people who are leaving care. Because, he said, it is all well and good that we take care of them for up to 18 years, but then they still have 50-60 years left to live. While I agree completely with him that more needs to be done in the area of after care for young adults who have grown up in institutions or in other forms of care, I was much more struck by another element of what he said.
Continue reading “Life Expectancy of Institutionalised Children”Bucharest Early Intervention Project
On the last day of the DI conference in Sofia, last month, we were treated to an amazing presentation by the three researchers who set up and are running the Bucharest Early Intervention Project. This is a longitudinal study done in Romania to compare the outcomes for 136 children who were placed in an institution and of whom half stayed in the institution – as they would have if the research project had not taken place – and half were placed in high quality foster care, set up by the research team. And in addition 72 children who grew up in their own families, having never been placed in care, were followed as a comparison group.
Continue reading “Bucharest Early Intervention Project”