Stigma is an important roadblock in the way of moving children from institutions to families. As well as to ensure that children are not separated from their families unnecessarily in the first place. There are a lot of children who are affected by stigma, including but not limited to children with disabilities, children affected by HIV, children of unwed mothers, children belonging to marginalised minorities, children on the move, children living in the street, former child soldiers, survivors of child trafficking, survivors of sexual abuse, and children who have lived in ‘orphanages’. In discussions around moving children who are stigmatised in some way from institutions to families, there is often a perception that this cannot be done, it is just not safe for the children to be moved into a community that does not accept them.
Continue reading “Breaking Stigma Through Exposure”Tag: #familybasedcare
The Fourth Year of Family-Based Solutions
And so another year has passed. It is hard to believe it is already four years since I started Family-Based Solutions (Why Family-Based Solutions then). So much has happened and so much keeps changing. While I have never found myself bored before, the past year has been a particularly busy one.
Continue reading “The Fourth Year of Family-Based Solutions”Don’t Let Boarding Schools Replace ‘Orphanages’
As more and more governments start to transition care from institutional to family-based alternative care, and donors increasingly become aware of the harm that institutionalisation causes children, the orphanage industry (running ‘orphanages’ for profit) is falling apart. Removing children from their families, putting them in institutions and calling them orphans was once so profitable, foreign donors and volunteers would be queuing to bring in money. Now, it is becoming harder and harder to convince donors to hand over their money for institutional care. So, people running residential childcare institutions are looking around for other options.
Continue reading “Don’t Let Boarding Schools Replace ‘Orphanages’”Ensuring Help Does Not Harm Ukrainian Children
It has taken me a while to feel able to write a blog about the situation of children from Ukraine during the current war. Even though from the start I felt that I wanted to. The main problem, I think, was that there are just so many aspects to the problems that the children are facing, that it is hard to know where to start. A lot of organisations and individuals have jumped into action and are doing absolutely everything they can to keep Ukrainian children as safe as possible. Unfortunately, under the current circumstances, it feels a lot like trying to carry water in a sieve. However, with many of the basics being addressed, things are starting to crystalise a bit more for me.
Continue reading “Ensuring Help Does Not Harm Ukrainian Children”The Results of the DataCare Project
The moment has finally come. Just before Christmas, the technical report and the policy brief of the DataCare Project were ready to be made public. The crown on more than a year and a half of work (not including the preparations, which I was not involved in) on a very ambitious project. It has been a real joy to have been a part of the research team that made it happen.
Continue reading “The Results of the DataCare Project”Child Marriage: Theory and Practice
Internationally there is a wide consensus that child marriage is a harmful practice for girls and that it needs to be eliminated. When you are aware of the risks and consequences to girls, this is not a hard thing to agree with. And a lot of work is being done to put an end to child marriages. In many countries where it has long been a tradition, it is no longer allowed and may even have been made a criminal offence. This all seems very sensible and a sign of progress, from a distance. Until reality comes knocking and everything becomes infinitely more complicated.
Continue reading “Child Marriage: Theory and Practice”UN Day of General Discussion: Children in Alternative Care
Last month, the UN Day of General Discussion took place. Usually, this happens every two years and it was due last year. However, with the pandemic, it got postponed to this year and was held virtually for the very first time. It had been organised by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, and it had been long anticipated by people working in my field. It was considered the next step after the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the UN Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children.
Continue reading “UN Day of General Discussion: Children in Alternative Care”Lived Experience of Family Preservation
The impression often exists that it is easy for the experts to talk about things like the need for deinstitutionalisation, for family strengthening, for community services, for helping families take care of their children with disabilities. It is easy to talk about all of these things in theory, but what do they know about the difficulties of the daily reality of these situations. I cannot answer this question for other experts, but in my case, the answer is: quite a lot.
Continue reading “Lived Experience of Family Preservation”Cooperation, Not Competition
Over recent weeks and months, several initiatives have been launched to bring together experts in the fields of child protection and alternative care reform. The aim of these global workgroups or committees is to try to get past the current practice of many people/organisations working in parallel in countries, with a similar aim but different approaches. Something that is both inefficient and expensive. Plus it creates a lot of confusion. Getting past this and trying to develop a common approach and increased cooperation is a great, and important, goal. Though unfortunately not one that is within sight just yet.
Continue reading “Cooperation, Not Competition”What a Year!
The year is drawing to a close again, so it’s time to think back over what it brought us. It certainly was unlike anything we could have predicted a year ago. And while COVID-19 as a disease does not hit children as hard as it does adults, children have been very severely affected by the pandemic, the restrictions to keep it under control, and the actions, or lack thereof, with regards to mitigating the impact on the population.
Continue reading “What a Year!”