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.

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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.

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Learning to Live Independently

Last week, the blog explained the difference between real community-based care and children who are simply raised in a building that is located within the community. This week, I want to explain why the difference is so important. It has everything to do with how children normally gradually are prepared for living as independent adults.

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Community-Based Care

The need for family-based and community-based alternative care has been mentioned often in these blogs. Many decades of research has shown that children do much better when they grow up in a family and as part of a community. However, it is important to understand what community-based care really means because too often there is a misunderstanding about this, with harmful effects on the child.

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Rapid Return Strategies

As mentioned HERE at the end of September an order was given in India to move 184,000 children from institutions back to their families or else into other family-based placements within 100 days. In response to this situation, I developed two strategies to help institutions prepare children for the move as well as possible in the limited time allowed and to help organisations support children who had already been moved out with little or no preparation or support, to mitigate the risks of these situations. These strategies were written in such a way that they are relevant for India, but can also be used in other countries.

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Reunion versus Reintegration

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.

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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.

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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.

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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:

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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.

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