At its core, deinstitutionalisation is a temporary state. It is the transition between running a residential childcare institution and running a family-based alternative care system. While the transition can take up several years depending on the circumstances, it will end. The temporary nature of the deinstitutionalisation process can lead to people underestimating how important and how complicated it is. This, in turn, can lead to a reluctance to really invest in it. However, not mobilising the resources needed to make the process go smoothly is a big mistake and one that can come at both a high human and financial cost.
Continue reading “Dedicated Staff for Deinstitutionalisation”Tag: #individualassessments
Making the Placement Decision
Three blogs have just been dedicated to understanding the individual assessment process. However, while gathering the data on the child through the assessments is extremely important, in itself the data is worthless if nothing is done with it. Just having notes on a paper or having an overview in a spreadsheet is not going to automatically lead to a good placement for the child. Something needs to be done with the information gathered.
Continue reading “Making the Placement Decision”Individual Assessments: Who?
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?”Individual Assessments: How?
In the previous blog (HERE), we looked at why it is so important to do individual assessments before making decisions about placements for children. In this blog, we will have a look at how individual assessments should be done. The short version: it is NOT a question of sitting across from a child for an hour with a clipboard with questions and rattle your way through them.
Continue reading “Individual Assessments: How?”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?”