#FamilyBasedSolutions

DI: The Institution’s Job

Posted on March 14, 2019September 30, 2019 by Florence

An institution deciding to move their children to family-based care – or being ordered to by their government – has a big job ahead of it. Just showing the children the door is not going to be enough and would lead to a lot of suffering and trauma among the children. It would be likely to lead to children ending up living on the street and/or being targeted for trafficking and sexual exploitation.

Making the move to family-based care needs to be responsibly handled and carefully planned. So, in this blog I will put forward some of the things that are very important to make sure of.

Podcast Deinstitutionalisation Obstacles

Posted on March 11, 2019March 30, 2024 by Florence

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)

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International Women’s Day

Posted on March 8, 2019March 8, 2019 by Florence

Today is International Women’s Day, something that is celebrated more exuberantly in some countries than in others. Whether or not Women’s Day is celebrated where you are, it is important to give some thought to the position of women and to their achievements.

This is not only useful and important in general, it is also relevant with regards to the efforts to move towards family-based solutions in alternative care.

DI: The Government’s Role

Posted on March 4, 2019March 2, 2019 by Florence

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.

Why Would An Institution Choose DI?

Posted on February 28, 2019September 30, 2019 by Florence

When you suggest deinstitutionalisation to the management of a residential childcare institution, you usually have an uphill battle. This is not surprising, because why would they want to put themselves out of existence?

Still, despite it starting out as an uphill battle, it is not a fight lost before it was started. There are actually a lot of good reasons for people running an ‘orphanage’ to choose DI, even if you disregard the ‘it is less harmful to the children’-one.

What Does Deinstitutionalisation Mean?

Posted on February 25, 2019September 30, 2019 by Florence

A very long word, often shortened to DI to save ourselves the trouble, that is thrown around more and more, in various different places. A word of some importance, and therefore important to understand. What exactly do people mean when they talk about deinstitutionalisation and what is involved in the process.

In this blog I will give a brief overview and in the following blogs I will pick out some elements that are mentioned today and look at them more closely, to allow a more thorough understanding to develop.

Forever Families: Adoption

Posted on February 18, 2019September 30, 2019 by Florence

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.

Family-Based Solutions Starts with Extended Family

Posted on February 7, 2019February 7, 2019 by Florence

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.

So How DOES One Help?

Posted on February 4, 2019September 30, 2019 by Florence

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.

‘How Do I Do It?’

Posted on January 3, 2019January 2, 2019 by Florence

As long as I have been involved in institutional childcare – whether trying to improve conditions or trying to eradicate it -, meaning twelve years now, I have been asked the question ‘How do you do it?’ It seems fitting to start the new year with an attempt at answering this.

The question can refer to different things. However, more often than not it refers to how I deal with seeing children deprived of so much, and how I deal with seeing children sick, or even with witnessing their death. I quite understand why people would think that these are the hardest things to deal with, but for me, they aren’t really.