On the international stage and in discussions among child protection experts the term ‘alternative care’, referring to care provisions where children who are unable to live with their parents are placed, is used freely and confidently. On the surface, there seems to be a clear consensus about what we are talking about. However, below the surface, things are far less clear-cut.
Continue reading “Understanding Alternative Care”Tag: #UNguidelinesonalternativecare
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.
Continue reading “Model for Setting Up Alternative Care System: Continued Development”Model for Setting Up Alternative Care System: Goal and Start
Part 2 of the explanation of the ToC model: The overall goal of this model is the full implementation of the UN Guidelines on Alternative Care for Children. Reaching this goal means that the two underlying principles of these Guidelines are adhered to throughout all systems of child protection and alternative care. These two principles are the Necessity Principle and the Suitability Principle. The Necessity Principle refers to making sure that children grow up in their own family unless it is impossible or not in their best interest for that to happen. In effect, this covers the prevention of family-separation and motivation for making every attempt towards family reintegration, in cases where separation has already taken place.
Continue reading “Model for Setting Up Alternative Care System: Goal and Start”Practical Model for Implementing UN Guidelines
In February, I announced that I was developing a Theory of Change model to given an overview of the practical stages involved in implementing the UN Guidelines on Alternative Care for Children. This is applicable both for places wanting to move from institutional to family-based care or for those who are just trying to set up family-based care and family strengthening. Today I would like to present the model I came up with.
Continue reading “Practical Model for Implementing UN Guidelines”Developing a Model
Over the past 50 years, the awareness of the harm caused by institutionalising children has gradually sunken in and started spreading globally. Western Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand were the first to start moving away from institutional care and towards family-based alternative care. Since they were at the forefront of this movement, they had on the one hand the challenge of discovering alternatives and figuring out how to implement them properly with little precedence to go on, while on the other hand they had the advantage of being able to do so without outside pressure to get it done quickly. In the past decade or two that pressure has been rising on all countries.
Continue reading “Developing a Model”