In a previous blog (HERE), I have mentioned the fact that pandemic restrictions have led to some countries requiring children in institutions to be sent home with little or no notice. Recently, the journal Child Abuse and Neglect published an article about research done on children living in institutions who had been rapidly returned to their families due to a government mandate as a result of measures taken to control the spread of Covid-19. The research did a survey on the circumstances of the rapid return of the children and the challenges that were encountered.
Continue reading “Mandated Rapid Return of Children”Tag: #childprotection
Remember the UNGA Resolution on Child Rights?
Last December, there was a lot of excitement about the adoption of an unprecedented UN Resolution on Child Rights (you can read the blog about that HERE). It raised a lot of hope that there would be a real boost in making sure Governments take measures to ensure that children can grow up in their own families or in family-based alternative care. And then the pandemic happened.
Continue reading “Remember the UNGA Resolution on Child Rights?”Deinstitutionalisation During the Pandemic
The Covid-19 pandemic has had an enormous effect on the efforts to deinstitutionalise alternative care in many countries. The interesting thing is that there have been two main effects, pulling in opposite directions. There does not seem to be a lot of middle ground at the moment.
Continue reading “Deinstitutionalisation During the Pandemic”Eurochild’s DataCare Project
In November, I mentioned my excitement at learning that Eurochild was planning to start a research project to see whether it would be possible to come to definitions of alternative care provisions that would make data comparable across Europe. The reason why this got me so excited, is that when I was doing the research for Alternative Care for Children Around the Globe (which you can download HERE), the main problems I ran into were lack of data gathered on vulnerable children and data not being comparable between – and sometimes even within – countries.
Continue reading “Eurochild’s DataCare Project”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”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”Preparing for Post-Pandemic Recovery
In today’s blog, I want to share with you the email that I have sent out to 19 big organisations in May. It is a bit longer than my average blog, but it is worth it:
I am trying to make organisations aware of both the dangers that lie ahead for vulnerable children, and of the opportunity to do something to mitigate those dangers, and I wanted to bring this to your attention as well.
Continue reading “Preparing for Post-Pandemic Recovery”An Update on Goings On
After 20 blogs laying out the explanation with the Theory of Change model for deinstitutionalisation or setting up a comprehensive child protection system, it feels like coming back after having been away for a while. For ten weeks, I have not been able to comment on current events and the work that I have been doing – except on the forum (which you can find HERE). That has not always been easy because a lot has been going on. Still, I do not regret ‘taking this time away’. I think it was important to provide the information given over the previous 20 blogs and to have posted other blogs in between would have created confusion. In any case, now the time has come to catch up again.
Continue reading “An Update on Goings On”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”Time Pressure Is a Risk Factor
At the DI conference in Sofia at the start of the month, Jana Hainsworth of Eurochild gave a ‘lessons learned’ presentation in which she gave the EU some pointers on where they need to improve their approach to encouraging the move from institutional to family-based alternative care. In the previous blog (HERE), I discussed her point that there is a need for a shared terminology surrounding alternative care. Another one of her points – and more indirectly several of them – revolved around the power that is associated with being a distributor of money.
Continue reading “Time Pressure Is a Risk Factor”