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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Child Protection Issues Foreseen

In the email I posted in the previous blog (HERE), which in turn was forwarded to other organisations, a strong increase in children ending up in institutions due to the pandemic was mentioned. I would like to explain further why this fear exists, and I will also like to share with you some of the issues that came up during conversations I have had with people involved in child protection and alternative care in various countries, as a result of sending the email.

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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.

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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.

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Model for Setting Up Alternative Care System: Preparing Children 1

Part 15 of the explanation with the ToC: Once a decision has been made about where a child is going to go, that is just the start of a lengthy road to move the child out. You cannot simply tell the child that this is what has been decided and then have him or her pack his or her things and be dropped off at a new home. Even if the child is to return to his or her own family, a period of preparation is necessary.

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Model for Setting Up Alternative Care System: Redirecting Resources

Part 14 of the explanation with the ToC: When an institution is to be closed, there tends to be a lot of resistance on many accounts, one of them being the ‘loss’ or ‘waste’ of the resources available to the institution. Generally, a residential childcare institution will have a building, possibly with land, furnishings of all kinds, supply stores and possibly vehicles. It will also have a funding stream to cover its costs and staff to run the place and take care of the children. Staff tends to be extremely worried about losing their jobs, in addition to other misgivings.

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Model for Setting Up Alternative Care System: Designing Services

Part 13 of the explanation with the ToC: Using the information gathered during the initial data collection and the individual assessments of children and their family, it is possible to get an overview of what services are needed, for how many people in what locations, whether these services are already available, whether organisations are operating in the relevant locations that might be willing and able to set up and run services there for ‘your’ children to use, whether you need to provide these organisations with support to do so (and if so, what kind of support), or whether you can build on existing services yourself; and what services are needed and not present in any form, and so need to be set up from scratch, by you.

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