#FamilyBasedSolutions

Podcast Healthcare

Posted on June 10, 2019March 30, 2024 by Florence

In today’s podcast the wider meaning of ‘access to healthcare’ is explored. Having a doctor within travelable distance is important, but if that doctor is unable to provide the care needed, can it really be called access to healthcare? This is important because lack of access to healthcare is one of the reasons behind children being institutionalised.

The next podcast will be posted in five weeks.

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 18:30 — 17.3MB)

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Global Day of Parents

Posted on May 31, 2019October 1, 2019 by Florence

Tomorrow is the Global Day of Parents, a group of people who have probably the most important responsibilities imaginable, and who are least appreciated of all. Generally speaking, parents are loaded with blame if anything goes wrong, whether or not they had any influence over the situation, while little is heard when things go right.

Exchanging Knowledge, Questions and Experiences

Posted on May 27, 2019May 27, 2019 by Florence

Today I am starting a six-week online course called Caring for Children Moving Alone: Protecting Unaccompanied and Separated Children, organised by Strathclyde University. The reason for taking this course, is that in order to help vulnerable children and to find suitable family-based solutions, it is essential to be aware of the needs of the children. Children from different backgrounds, in different situations, have different needs that need to be met to make sure that they are safe and that they are able to develop well and thrive.

International Day of Families

Posted on May 15, 2019May 13, 2019 by Florence

Today is the International Day of Families, an important day to celebrate. Families are at the centre of everything Why Family-Based Solutions stands for. It is in families that children are almost always provided with the various conditions they need for proper brain development, proper psychological development, proper growth and proper health, conditions that are missing in institutions. In families this happens as a matter of course, without any conscious thought put into it.

What’s in a Word?

Posted on May 9, 2019April 30, 2019 by Florence

A few weeks ago, an interesting discussion took place on a forum I took part in. I think it is worth sharing some of what was discussed in this blog. The discussion was about the influence of the language used when talking about moving towards family-based care. This influence turned out to be greater than one might expect.

Podcast Outcomes of Institutional Care

Posted on May 6, 2019March 30, 2024 by Florence

When you read statistics about what happens when children who spent their childhood and/or youth in an institution grow up and have to face life on their own, it seems quite abstract. So in today’s podcast I want to share with you something about the lives of two adults who grew up in an institutions, to give an insight into the consequences.

The next podcast will be posted in five weeks.

Please share this to help spread awareness.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 20:59 — 18.9MB)

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Comparing Outcomes

Posted on May 2, 2019April 29, 2019 by Florence

When you propose a move from institutionalisation to family-based care, you usually get inundated with arguments against it. The belief that institutional care is cheaper is one of the arguments (one that was already refuted HERE), but not the only one. There is usually also a fear of trusting another family, strangers, to care for a child. The feeling is that the child will be alright in the institution, because that is all organised and more or less official, but it seems dangerous to just trust ‘random strangers’ with a child, anything could happen.

Foster Care: A Foreign Concept?

Posted on April 29, 2019October 1, 2019 by Florence

When you discuss family-based care and talk about the option of foster care in a country where formal foster care is not present, the reaction you often get is: ‘Oh, but foster care is a foreign idea, it is not part of our culture and it would never work here.’ Interestingly enough this argument is used as a reason to stick to institutionalisation of children.

This is pretty ironic, because institutionalisation of children is definitely a foreign idea that was brought over by colonialists and missionaries, while when you take a closer look, foster care does not turn out to be all that foreign at all.

Filling the Gap with Emergency Foster Care

Posted on April 25, 2019October 1, 2019 by Florence

More and more people agree that institutional care is not good for children. However, there is still a belief that in some situations putting children in institutions is inevitable. A belief that while it is not good, it is still better than the alternative. This belief exists, because there is a lack of awareness of alternative options. The thought is that the only options are leaving the child in a dangerous situation or putting her in an institution.

The good news is that this is not true. There is a family-based alternative, also in emergency situations. In this blog we will look at what that is.

NGOs ‘Helping’ Where There Are No State-Run Institutions

Posted on April 22, 2019January 4, 2020 by Florence

In 2018 Rwanda announced that they are planning to be the first country in Africa without orphanages by 2022. A nice sentiment, and I hope they will be able to get rid of all institutions by then, but they will not get the prize. Because Comoros is way ahead of them, it does not have, and never had, any residential childcare institutions.

However, with regards to countries without childcare institutions, during my work on the report ‘Alternative Care for Children Around the Globe’ (which you can download HERE), I was struck by a troubling issue: NGOs or faith-based organisations jumping in in places where there were no residential childcare institutions run by the government, to open orphanages.