#alternativecare

DI: The Government’s Role

Posted on March 4, 2019March 2, 2019 by Florence

It is possible for individual institutions to decide to start deinstitutionalisation by themselves, at the grassroots level. They can look for ways to support the families of the children in their care, so that the children can go home. They can provide training to the staff working at the institution to give them the skills to become foster parents or small group home caregivers instead, for the children who do not have a home they can go back to.

I am currently involved with an organisation in India that is working not just towards making sure all the children in their care can be moved to family situations, but to create a replicable model that can be followed by others in the country. However, to be able to put together a sustainable system of family-based alternative care, some government involvement is always necessary.

If Not Extended Family, Then Foster Family

Posted on February 12, 2019September 30, 2019 by Florence

Despite the impression created by the huge numbers of children in institutions and other types of formal alternative care around the world, by far the majority of children not cared for by their parents, are not in formal alternative care. Most of them are already taken in by their extended families, right at this moment, without any additional awareness raising or support. This is something worth building on.

However, just like there are some children who will not be able to be cared for by their parents, no matter how much support they receive and how great the community services available are, there will also be children who do not have extended family members able to take them in and care for them. For them other family-based solutions need to be found.

Family-Based Solutions Starts with Extended Family

Posted on February 7, 2019February 7, 2019 by Florence

Prevention of children getting separated from their parents – as discussed in the previous few blogs – drastically reduces the number of children who need alternative care solutions. However, the number of children in need of alternative care will never be zero.

So if they should not go into an institution, where should they go? That is what this blog will look at.

Why Are They There?

Posted on January 7, 2019September 30, 2019 by Florence

In Guatemala 75% of parents with children in institutions surveyed said that with a little support, they would be able to take care of their own children. These are the things we need to look for. In order to know how to get children out of institutions, it is helpful to find out how they got there. This will give a starting point to finding out what needs to be done to prevent the children from ending up in institutions.

Where Are the Refugee Children?

Posted on December 18, 2018September 30, 2019 by Florence

Why, you may ask, am I suddenly looking at a blog about refugee children? That is rather a different subject than institutional childcare or alternative care, isn’t it? Well, yes and no. It is its own, vast and complicated subject. But it is definitely tied in with institutional childcare and alternative care as well.

As part of research data that I have gathered, I have statistics on refugee flows for 2015. This is information on how many people left a particular country as refugees, how many refugees were being hosted by the country and how many people were internally displaced, and for some countries I also have information one what percentage of this group consists of children.

Who Ends Up in Institutions?

Posted on October 29, 2018September 30, 2019 by Florence

In the course of my research work for the ‘world list’ it has become clear to me that the reasons why children end up in alternative care, and particularly in institutions, are surprisingly similar across many countries. It also became apparent that there is a big difference between why children in high income countries are in alternative care and why children in other countries are in alternative care.

Earlier this month I promised a blog on the reasons why children end up in institutions, why they are abandoned. Here is that blog.

Working on ‘The World List’

Posted on September 20, 2018October 6, 2018 by Florence

In the summer of 2015, I was starting to get a clearer insight into the diverse backgrounds and problems that were the main cause of the institutionalisation of children in a few specific countries. This insight led me to speculate that actually to be able to really tackle the issue of children institutions – and to get an idea of what is needed to keep them out of them – it would be useful to have information about a few specific subjects for each country, to gain an understanding of what is already in place, what are major obstacles and how alternative care and institutional care are handled.