Poverty is a major reason for children ending up in care and especially for them ending up in institutions, as we have seen in various blogs (HERE and HERE). So combating poverty is an important part of ending institutionalisation. However, this does not mean that we have to put an end to poverty world-wide in order to prevent children from ending up in institutions.
Continue reading “Ending Poverty Is Too Much to Ask”Tag: #FamiliesNotOrphanages
World Autism Day
Today is World Autism Awareness Day. I consider it very important that awareness is raised about autism, both as an advocate for children with autism who are often more likely to end up in an institution, and as someone who is on the spectrum herself.
Continue reading “World Autism Day”India Trip
As I am about to get on an airplane again, to go home tomorrow, it seems like a good moment to look back on the weeks I have spent in India and the work I have done here.
As many of you know, before I founded Why Family-Based Solutions, I ran Orphanage Projects. This trip has been an interesting juxtaposition of the work of those two. Having spent half of it on strategising for deinstitutionalisation and the other half on still improving conditions in several institutions.
Continue reading “India Trip”World Down’s Syndrome Day
Today is World Down’s Syndrome Day, a day to raise awareness about Down’s Syndrome and to help dispel some of the myths around it. Myths that in many places lead to children being abandoned and sometimes institutionalised.
Until recently even in so-called Western countries, and today still in many places do people have the impression that every child with Down’s syndrome is a worst-case scenario, with even doctors advising parents not to keep the child, because it is no use. This is a major misconception.
Continue reading “World Down’s Syndrome Day”Podcast Deinstitutionalisation Obstacles
In today’s podcast you will hear some real-life examples of hurdles that can come up, in the early stages of the attempt to move children from institutions to family-based care. And an insight into just how high the stakes are and how important it is to make sure it is done right.
The next podcast will be posted in four weeks.
Please share this, to help spread awareness.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 16:33 — 14.5MB)
Subscribe: RSS
DI: The Government’s Role
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.
Continue reading “DI: The Government’s Role”Forever Families: Adoption
Often children who cannot stay with their parents need an alternative for a limited time. It might be days, weeks, months or sometimes even a few years. However, after that time they may be able to go back to their own parents. That, of course, is the ideal for any child.
Unfortunately, in some cases it is clear from pretty early on, that the child will never be able to return to the care of her parents or extended family. In these cases, it is possible to organise long-term foster care for the child, something that happens in many places. However, foster care usually does not give the same feeling of permanence and security as the other option: adoption.
Continue reading “Forever Families: Adoption”Podcast Attachment Disorder in Family Placement
The effects of institutionalisation do not necessarily disappear when a child is taken out of an institution and placed with a family. This makes it very important that parents who take in a child who has been institutionalised for some time – whether they are the child’s own parents, foster parents or adoptive parents – receive training and guidance to help cope with this.
In this month’s podcast the real story of a little girl who was adopted is told, to illustrate some of the problems that may arise.
Then next podcast will be posted in four weeks.
Please share this, to help spread awareness.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:22 — 23.0MB)
Subscribe: RSS
Family-Based Solutions Starts with Extended Family
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.
Continue reading “Family-Based Solutions Starts with Extended Family”So How DOES One Help?
As the trauma of the expensive December-month is starting to fade, this might be a good time to have a look at what causes you would like to donate to this year. People who really want to help vulnerable children, may feel thrown off kilter after hearing that donating to so-called orphanages actually does a lot of harm, despite the best intentions. This is very understandable. I really hope that this will not shake their determination to make a difference and donate to causes that would be of great help.
So in this blog I want to give an overview of the kind of things that ARE beneficial to vulnerable children and that can use backing and financial support.
Continue reading “So How DOES One Help?”