When talking about children leaving institutions (or other alternative care placements) and going to live with their own family again two words are generally used: reuniting with the family and reintegrating into the family. These terms have been used before in the blogs as well, particularly with regards to children suddenly being returned to their families during pandemic lockdowns. Some people use these two words as if they mean the same thing but they do not. It is very important – particularly to the children – to understand the difference between the two.
Continue reading “Reunion versus Reintegration”Tag: #deinstitutionalisation
Fast Return Order in India
Last week, I wrote about the study on the problems associated with rapid return of children to their families as part of pandemic precaution measures (HERE). Shortly before that blog became public, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) in India directed 8 states to ensure that children living in Child Care Institutions there were returned to their families preferably within 100 days. This is very alarming news.
Continue reading “Fast Return Order in India”Mandated Rapid Return of Children
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”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”The Simulation Lab Conference Report
In February this year, I was a co-organiser and facilitator of the conference: Immersive Simulation Lab for Family-Based Care (you can read about the event HERE)in Pune, India. In April, I mentioned the delays in bringing out the conference report, due to the increased and shifted workload due to the pandemic and the lockdown that accompanied it, and I gave a sneak peek at the contents (you can find it HERE). As it turned out, the delays ended up being even longer than expected. However, the moment has finally arrived and the conference report is finally completed.
Continue reading “The Simulation Lab Conference Report”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”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”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”Model for Setting Up Alternative Care System: Continued Development
Part 20 of the explanation with the ToC: Development work is never done. There is no such thing as a perfect child and social protection system Even if someone should manage to establish something that would be considered a perfect system according to today’s best practice, by next month new insights and information will emerge to show that certain things that were long considered to be beneficial turn out to be harmful to children. So, changes need to be made again.
Continue reading “Model for Setting Up Alternative Care System: Continued Development”Model for Setting Up Alternative Care System: Identifying Those at Risk
Part 19 of the explanation with the ToC: Once there are no more children in institutions, that too is not the end of the work to be done. Family-based alternative care and family strengthening do not just serve to absorb children who previously lived in institutions. These systems are in place to provide support and protection to the most vulnerable families and children in society.
Continue reading “Model for Setting Up Alternative Care System: Identifying Those at Risk”