After looking at why individual assessments are necessary (HERE) and getting a glimpse at how they should be approached (HERE), it is not unimportant to have a look at ‘who’. With ‘who’, I am not talking about who should be conducting the individual assessment, that was addressed in the ‘how’ blog. Rather we need to take a look at whom you need to get information from.
Continue reading “Individual Assessments: Who?”Tag: #familystrengthening
Individual Assessments: Why?
When it comes to deciding what kind of placement is best for a child – no matter whether it is for a child who is moved out of an institution, or for a child who is no longer able to live with his family – individual assessments are essential. Without very detailed information about many aspects of the child’s life, experiences, development and feelings, there is no hope of determining what is in the child’s best interest.
Continue reading “Individual Assessments: Why?”Kinship Care Cannot Be 'Dump and Run'
Lucy Peake of Grandparent Plus gave a presentation on kinship care in the UK at the IFCO seminar in London early last month. It was striking how heartwarming and heartbreaking the situation she described was, at the same time. Heartwarming because of the large numbers of people willing to take the child of a relative or good friend into their home. And heartbreaking because of how little support they are given and the terrible situations that this can lead to.
Continue reading “Kinship Care Cannot Be 'Dump and Run'”Deinstitutionalisation Is Still Relevant in All of Europe
When people talk about the need for deinstitutionalisation, it is usually discussed as something that needs to happen ‘over there’, in ‘less developed’ countries. This creates the impression that in Western Europe, North America, and Australia and New Zealand institutionalisation is a thing of the distant past, but that is not actually true. In some places what is happening is less easily recognisable as institutionalisation because of different terminology or other cosmetic changes, while in other places institutionalisation still continues quite blatantly.
Continue reading “Deinstitutionalisation Is Still Relevant in All of Europe”Involving Parents
At the DI conference in Sofia, last month, Professor Andy Bilson warned people who are involved in social work and alternative care that we need to stop seeing parents as ‘the problem’ and start making them part of the solution. And he made a very strong case for this.
Continue reading “Involving Parents”Christmas Thoughts
Last month my (last surviving) grandmother passed away, if she had still been alive, she would have turned 99 the day after tomorrow, a Christmas baby. I have been thinking lately that, although during my lifetime I have only known her as a potter – always working with clay, making pots and sculptures on commission, and teaching classes – in a way, I am walking in her footsteps, with the work that I am doing. It’s just that they are the footsteps she took earlier in life.
Continue reading “Christmas Thoughts”Human Rights Day
Today it is 71 years ago that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in Paris. More than twice as old as the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and containing only 30 articles, but when you read them, it is incredibly comprehensive. And yet, at such a venerable age, it is heartbreaking to realise how far we are – in any country at all – from actually truly honouring all the rights listed in that declaration.
Continue reading “Human Rights Day”Time Pressure Is a Risk Factor
At the DI conference in Sofia at the start of the month, Jana Hainsworth of Eurochild gave a ‘lessons learned’ presentation in which she gave the EU some pointers on where they need to improve their approach to encouraging the move from institutional to family-based alternative care. In the previous blog (HERE), I discussed her point that there is a need for a shared terminology surrounding alternative care. Another one of her points – and more indirectly several of them – revolved around the power that is associated with being a distributor of money.
Continue reading “Time Pressure Is a Risk Factor”International Day for the Eradication of Poverty
Progress has been made on the road towards eradication of poverty, but there is a long way, still to go. Especially since in recent years income inequality in many countries has been growing again, after it shrunk for a period. It is strange, that in the face of so much evidence, there are still people who think: ‘I don’t care about all those poor people, as long as I can grow my wealth’. When it has been proven over and over again that when income inequality is reduced and poverty is aleviated, the entire economy benefits and everyone is better off.
Poverty is one of the main reasons why children end up in institutions, and may also be a reason for them eding up in other forms of alternative care. In previous blogs (HERE and HERE), I have written about how we can prevent children from ending up being separated from their family due to poverty, without having to accomplish complete eradication. In this blog, I would like to outline what eradication of poverty – or something close to it – could do for reducing the need for alternative care.
Continue reading “International Day for the Eradication of Poverty”Keeping Best Interest at the Centre
The Convention on the Rights of the Child states in several articles that the Best Interest of the child should always be kept at the centre of all decision making and should take precedence over all other considerations. This is a very important principle. One that is generally acknowledged to be correct. In fact, in many countries, the law states the same thing. However in practice, the best interest of the child very often falls by the roadside.
Continue reading “Keeping Best Interest at the Centre”