Recently, there has been a lot of talk about the effects of the pandemic and the restrictions put in place to control the spread of COVID-19 on children. A lot of concerns are raised about the impact of increasing child poverty, lack of access to education, and reduced opportunities for socialising. Fears are expressed for the long-term effects on children’s health, development, educational achievements, mental health and lifelong potential. As one policymaker recently put it: this generation will forever be known as the COVID-generation.
Continue reading “It Is Not Just the ‘COVID-generation’”Tag: #covid19
Proof That Funding Determines Where Children Go
I have repeatedly written about the ‘orphanage industry’ and how funding and/or volunteering in ‘orphanages’ causes children to be separated from their parents and to end up living in institutions. You can read about that HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE. I have made the following claim many times:
Continue reading “Proof That Funding Determines Where Children Go”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”Listening to Children
I have written before, on various occasions about child participation (in this blog you can read what that is exactly, HERE). Like many other things the pandemic crisis has brought this topic to the forefront. Overall, there seemed to be a gradual improvement in governments and decision-makers being more willing to ask children for their insights and perspective and actually taking them into account. Then the crisis hit and all the hatches are down again.
Continue reading “Listening to Children”Making Pandemic Solutions Permanent Solutions
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”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”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”