| BCN Newsletter: 27 July 2013 |
|
|
|
Welcome to the latest edition of the BCN Newsletter!
In this edition, we highlight recent research, tools and policy briefs relevant to children's care, including:
- A new Inter-Agency Advocacy Initiative calling on the UN General Assembly to focus on strengthening family care and providing appropriate alternative care in 2014, to mark the 5th Anniversary of the adoption of the Alternative Care Guidelines.
- A hard-hitting new Public Service Announcement by Disability Rights International.
- New research looking at children without parental care, gatekeeping and alternatives to institutionalization in Bulgaria and Poland.
- FOCUS on some of the recent research and learning on Children Affected by HIV/AIDS, including a study of the synergies between the child protection and HIV/AIDS sectors, and a review of the evidence on interventions to support and strengthen child-care giver relationships.
- An important new Training Toolkit to work with children affected by traumatic stress.
Also,
- The Committee on the Rights of the Child has adopted a new General Comment on the Best Interests of the Child, with important implications for children's care.
- Our Country Care Reviews continue with highlights on the Committee on the Rights of the Child's care related recommendations to Armenia, Guinea-Bissau and Israel.
And of course, we have the latest news, upcoming events, conferences, webinars and job opportunities! Questions? You can reach us at contact@bettercarenetwork.org. Thank you for your continual subscription and partnership in promoting positive and appropriate alternative care options for children!
All the best,
The BCN Secretariat
|
|
IN A FEW WORDS:
"We don't want your teddy bears, we don't want your shoes, we don't want your pencils, books, or blankets. We want to go home."
Disability Rights International Public Service Announcement
|
|
|
|
ADVOCACY
Joint Statement on strengthening family care and providing appropriate alternative care in the 2014 UN General Assembly
Child Rights Resolution
|
Twenty five international and national NGOs and networks have issued a joint statement to member States of the United Nations General Assembly (UN GA) calling on them to focus the 2014 Resolution on the Rights of the Child on strengthening family care and providing appropriate alternative care for children. Since 2005, the UN General Assembly has highlighted one thematic area of children's rights in its annual resolution, but it has so far not addressed children without appropriate family care. The UN GA session in 2014 will be particularly key as it will be the 5th Anniversary of the adoption of the Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children. The joint statement reminds member States that "as five years have passed since the adoption of the Guidelines, it is time to take stock of the progress made and how we have moved forward and look at the impact that the Guidelines have had on the lives of children."
2014 is also the 20th Anniversary of the International Year of the Family and a year of intense preparations and negotiations for the establishment of a new post 2015 development framework. The joint statement underlines that a thematic focus on children's care should also be linked with the current debate on the successor of the MDGs and how to include child protection and care in the post-2015 framework. More organisations are joining the call and an updated list of endorsing organizations will be published on a regular basis.
To read the joint statement, please visit:
http://bettercarenetwork.org/BCN/details.asp?id=31512&themeID=1001&topicID=1007
For more information about the initiative, and if your organization would like to endorse it, please contact Florence Martin at florence.martin@bettercarenetwork.org or Barbara Ammirati at Barbara.Ammirati@sos-kd.org
|
|
MEDIA CAMPAIGN
Disability Rights International: "We don't want your teddy bears"
|
This hard-hitting Public Service Announcement (PSA), produced by Disability Rights International, is part of the organization's Worldwide Campaign to End the Institutionalization of Children".
The 30-second video, available on YouTube, states that "orphanages are the problem, not the solution." It highlights the need for services that prevent family separation, especially for poor and vulnerable children, and the need for greater support of family reunification for children living in residential care.
For further information and to view the PSA, please visit:
|
|
RESEARCH
Providing Alternatives to Infant Institutionalization in Bulgaria:
Can Gatekeeping Benefit from a Social Development Orientation?
|
Gatekeeping has been widely promoted as a key strategy to combat the unnecessary institutionalisation of children. This paper by Andy Bilson and Cath Larkins provides details of research into the gatekeeping system in Bulgaria for children under three and examples from recent Bulgarian and international practice, with a particular focus on the experience in Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CEE/CIS). The authors note that although gatekeeping remains a central approach to reduce institutionalisation, and numbers of children living in institutions have fallen in many countries in the region between 2000 and 2010, "there appears to be a system effect in which formal care increases despite efforts to introduce gatekeeping and where institutional care is replaced mostly with fostering and guardianship rather than support to birth families."
The authors review pathways into and out of infant institutions in Bulgaria and assess the strength of the gatekeeping system in that country. They find that despite considerable progress in developing a system, a comprehensive legal system and procedures for assessment and decision-making being in place, and a national social work service being developed, there remains many issues with implementation, including limited numbers of staff in child protection departments; poor practice, variable commitment to deinstitutionalization and lack of training of social workers; a shortage of foster care; limited support for kinship care and community alternatives to support families, among others. Not least among the challenges is the overall increase in children entering formal care. Bilson and Larkins suggest that gatekeeping could benefit from a social development orientation that would place its focus on assessment and service provision within a frame that promotes support for birth families, and includes responses to the specific elements of poverty and social exclusion that lead to breakdown in families. They provide examples of how a social development orientation might be incorporated into gatekeeping strategies.
To access the abstract and information about accessing the full article, please visit:
http://bettercarenetwork.org/BCN/details.asp?id=31401&themeID=1003&topicID=1022
|
|
RESEARCH
Children Without Parental Care in Poland
|
This article published in International Social Work describes the historical background and current situation of the child welfare system for children without parental care in Poland. Whereas after the Second World War children in institutional care were mainly orphaned children, nowadays most children in out-of-home care are 'social orphans', children deprived of a family environment as a result of family breakdown, or because of seriously depriving circumstances which endanger development. The authors explain how the child welfare system for children without parental care is organized in Poland, focusing on institutional care, foster care and adoption. They note that in the last decades a transformation took place from state-run institutional care for children without parental care to a policy aimed at preventing family disruption and placing children in family-type care whenever possible. Despite reforms aimed at deinstitutionalization and a growing number of foster care placements in Poland, almost 20,000 children remain in institutional care.
In most cases, out-of-home placement was the result of a family court ruling to protect the child from a dysfunctional family situation. The most common reason for this decision was degradation in parental functioning, causing neglect of the children in important areas like safety, health and intellectual development. Alcohol abuse is one of the main reasons rendering parents unable to fulfill their parental tasks. Estimates are that as many as 90 percent of the children in institutional care are children of alcoholics. According to the authors, financial resources are often insufficient to prevent families from disintegrating and to offer childcare in the most favourable environment. They suggest, however, that with the new 2011 Act on Family Assistance and Alternative Care an important step has been made to further improve the situation for children without parental care. They highlight and make recommendations on some of the remaining issues, including the need for further deinstitutionalization and offering more family-type care, as well as preventing placement of a child in out-of-home care and the return of children to their biological family.
To access the abstract and information about accessing the full article, please visit:
http://www.bettercarenetwork.org/BCN/details.asp?id=31472&themeID=1001&topicID=1006
|
|
FOCUS ON CHILDREN AFFECTED BY HIV/AIDS
Building Protection and Resilience: Synergies for Child Protection Systems and Children Affected by HIV and AIDS
|
This paper presents findings from a study commissioned by the Inter Agency Task Team on Children affected by HIV and AIDS. The study identifies practical ways in which child protection and HIV sectors can combine their comparative expertise, to strengthen child protection systems that meet the needs of all children at risk of abuse, violence, exploitation and neglect, whilst also meeting the unique needs of HIV-affected and infected children, and those at increased risk of HIV infection and protection abuses. The paper presents findings from a global literature search and key informant interviews with leading actors in the child protection and children and HIV sectors. The findings indicate that violations of child protection negatively impact HIV outcomes and that HIV and AIDS affect child protection outcomes in many different settings. This, say the authors, justifies the need for specific HIV and child protection interventions to be integrated into one another's responses. The literature review and key informant interviews provide ample evidence highlighting the increased vulnerabilities of HIV-affected children to child protection violations, and also indicate where the child protection system needs to be strengthened to better prevent and respond to those vulnerabilities.
Among the findings particularly relevant to children's care are indications that children who are orphaned due to HIV or AIDS face an increased risk of physical and emotional abuse as compared with other children in sub-Saharan Africa, including other orphans; caregivers of AIDS-orphaned children also have higher rates of depression than other caregivers in sub- Saharan Africa; children who are orphaned due to AIDS have higher rates of transactional sex or increased (unsafe) sexual activity and/or sexual abuse; and children living in all forms of alternative care may experience greater protection risks because of exclusion from information or lack of access to services such as sexual reproductive health services. The paper reports many other findings regarding the protection and vulnerability of children affected by HIV/AIDS as well as recommendations to national-level actors working in both the child protection and HIV/AIDS fields, as well as global-level actors.
To access the full report, please visit:
|
|
Supporting and Strengthening Child-Caregiver Relationships (Parenting)
|
This report written by Linda Richter and Sara Naicker for PEPFAR and USAID reviews published literature from 2000 to 2012 and summarizes empirically based recommendations for supporting and strengthening child-caregiver relationships in the context of AIDS and poverty. The review is not limited by geographical scope, but draws on what are considered universal features of children's development and their relationships with caregivers, though specific variables may be influenced by cultural and local context. The review takes into account the broad body of research on supporting and strengthening child-caregiver relationships and parenting in order to extract general principles to guide discussions on the implementation of parenting programs in contexts affected by HIV and AIDS and poverty.
The review found that there is strong evidence of the effectiveness of parent support programs that address a range of child and family concerns, and that the core elements of many parenting and caregiving programs can be adapted for use across different settings and cultures. The summary states that support for parenting is helpful because HIV and poverty challenge both children and families; parenting programs need to be situated within a broader context of improved supports for caregivers and families; social support is a core component of many successful parenting interventions; and that parenting support can be provided in low-income, HIV-affected settings using a set of common elements or principles that have been shown to be effective in parenting programs. The common elements identified in parent support programs include: information, positive parenting, understanding, promotion of pro-social behavior, and responding to parents' needs. The paper also provides background information on families, parenting and HIV, a description of common features found in successful parenting support interventions, recommendations for developing effective parenting support programs, and the authors' conclusions.
To view the full report, please use the following link:
|
|
"The Road to Melbourne" Meeting
Young Children Born into HIV-affected Families
|
Following three previous initiatives - the Road to Toronto, the Road to Vienna, and the Road to Washington, the Coalition for Children Affected by AIDS (CCABA), with the cooperation and support of UNICEF, UNAIDS and other organizations, led the Road to Melbourne meeting in New York on May 30-31, 2013. 49 people gathered in New York for the first in a series of three meetings hosted by UNICEF. The goal of the meeting series is to build evidence and understanding amongst policy makers and programmers from different disciplines on approaches to the early identification of children born into HIV-affected families through Preventing Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) services and other key entry points such as ECD programming to ensure the linked provision of integrated services and support to children at risk and their families to promote optimal development. The objective of the meeting was to influence funder and policy-maker priorities, and country-level practice.
After introductory comments, meeting participants heard presentations from nine panels, including on topics of particular relevance to children's care, such as "Comprehensive care and support models for children affected by AIDS (CABA)," and "Integrated support to families for optimal development". Among other presentations, Professor Linda Richter spoke of bringing integrated support for families to scale to reach the vast majority of vulnerable children who are not being reached by interventions, discussing the findings and relevance to other contexts of 2 reviews of research/ programmes in High Income countries, including Partnerships to Promote Children's Development (WHO 2013) and Supporting, strengthening parenting (PEPFAR/USAID 2013). Theresa Betancourt presented the Family Strengthening Intervention for Rwanda, a family-based preventive model focused on identifying and enhancing resilience and communication in families who are managing stressors due to parental illness before mental health problems develop.
To read the full report of the meeting, please visit:
http://www.bettercarenetwork.org/BCN/details.asp?id=31407&themeID=1004&topicID=1025
For more information on the meeting, and to download the presentations, please visit: http://www.ccaba.org/road-to-melbourne-series-presentations-from-new-york/
|
|
TOOLS
Child Welfare Trauma Training Toolkit
|
The USA-based National Child Traumatic Stress Network has recently released a second edition of the Child Welfare Trauma Training Toolkit, which is part of the Child Welfare Trauma Training course. The course assists those in the field of child welfare who wish to learn more about child welfare and trauma. The Toolkit describes traumatic stress and its impact on children, offers assessment tools that can help identify children affected by traumatic stress, and provides ways that child welfare workers can manage professional stress. The training also teaches basic knowledge, skills, and values about working with children who have experienced traumatic stress and who are in the child welfare system. The toolkit guides practitioners and others in supporting children's safety, permanency, and well-being through case analysis and corresponding interventions tailored to them and to their biological and resource families. This comprehensive training curriculum includes a Trainer's Guide, Appendices, Slide kit, Participant Manual, Supplemental Handouts, recommended reading and resources, Comprehensive Guide, and an accompanying CD-Rom.
While designed for a US audience, this toolkit provides valuable information and resources to practitioners and professionals in the field of child welfare that may be relevant in many different settings and regions of the world. The Toolkit is designed to be facilitated by someone who is familiar with the field of child welfare, but not necessarily with the specific area of child traumatic stress. The Toolkit takes advantage of what is already known about children by child welfare workers, and builds upon this. The trainer encourages the trainees to draw examples from the real world, as well as participate in role plays and small group exercises. Individuals may access the toolkit and training materials for free by registering with the National Child Traumatic Stress Network.
For further information about the toolkit and how to access it, please visit:
http://www.bettercarenetwork.org/BCN/details.asp?id=31400&themeID=1001&topicID=1009
|
|
|
INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS
General Comment by the Committee on the Rights of the Child:
The Best Interest of the Child
|
General Comment 14 issued by the Committee on the Rights of the Child, refers to article 3(1), of the Convention on the Rights of the Child that asserts the right of the child to have his or her best interests taken as a primary consideration in all actions or decisions that concern him or her (in both the public and private spheres). The General Comment defines the requirements for due consideration of the child's best interests, in judicial and administrative decisions as well as all other actions concerning the child, and provides a framework for assessing and determining the child's best interests. This right is particularly relevant to decision about children's care, as the Convention explicitly refers to the child's best interests in article 9: separation from parents; article 10: family reunification; article 18: parental responsibilities; article 20: deprivation of family environment and alternative care; article 21: adoption, among others.
The Committee underlines that "assessing the child's best interests is a unique activity that should be undertaken in each individual case, in the light of the specific circumstances of each child or group of children or children in general." These circumstances relate not only to the individual characteristics of the child or children concerned, such as age, sex, level of maturity, having a physical, sensory or intellectual disability etc., but also the social and cultural context in which the child or children find themselves,
including "the presence or absence of parents, whether the child lives with them, quality of the relationships between the child and his or her family or caregivers, the environment in relation to safety, the existence of quality alternative means available to the family, extended family or caregivers." The Committee provides important examples of the application of this right in the context of care decisions, including placement in alternative care. It also highlights that in respect of adoption (art. 21), the right of best interests is not simply to be "a primary consideration" but "the paramount consideration". "Indeed, the best interests of the child are to be the determining factor when taking a decision on adoption, but also on other issues."
To read the full text of the General Comment, please visit:
http://www.bettercarenetwork.org/BCN/details.asp?id=31390&themeID=1001&topicID=1006
|
|
COUNTRY CARE REVIEWS
Care Related Concluding Observations by the
Committee on the Rights of the Child
|
In this issue, we return to our focus on the Committee on the Rights of the Child as we highlight the care related Concluding Observations adopted by the Committee during its 63rd Session held from 27 May to 14 June 2013, with a particular focus on sections addressing Family Environment and Alternative Care.
To access the Concluding Observations on Armenia, please visit:
To access the Concluding Observations on Guinea Bissau, please visit:
To access the Concluding Observations on Israel, please visit:
The 64th Session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child is due to take place from 16 September to 4 October 2013 in Geneva. The State Parties reports that will be examined are:
- China (also Optional Protocol on Children in Armed Conflict-OPAC)
- Kuwait
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Monaco
- Sao Tome and Principe
- Tuvalu
- Moldova (also Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children-OPSC)
- Paraguay (also OPAC and OPSC)
|
|
IN THE MEDIA
|
England: Children's Homes- Worrying Standards of Care, BBC News, 24th June 2013.
This article reports on research conducted by the TV Programme Panorama on some of the current practices and standards in the children's residential care system in England. The findings were described by a charity representing children in care as "extremely worrying". According to Panorama, one in four of the nearly 5,000 children in residential care in England is in a children's home that has received a rating by the national regulatory agency Ofsted of only "adequate" or even "inadequate". In response to Panorama's research, the government said it was in talks with Ofsted, to make "good" the acceptable minimum standard for residential care homes. The article concludes with a discussion of the financial aspect of children's residential care in England. According to Panorama, most homes are privately run and there is growing concern that some smaller providers are being squeezed out of the market in favor of larger institutions that can offer residential care at lower cost to local authorities. This could lead to monopolization of the "residential care market" by a small number of providers.
To read the full article, please visit:
http://www.bettercarenetwork.org/BCN/details_news.asp?id=31408&themeID=1002&topicID=1017
India: Goa Cabinet Approves Foster Care Scheme for Needy Children, The Times of India, 27th June 2013.
The state cabinet of Goa, India recently approved a foster care scheme to assist children deprived of parental care or of the care of guardians and in need of protection. The scheme, titled 'Vatsalya', will grant a foster care allowance of 2500 rupees (approx. $42) for an individual up to 21 years of age. According to the article, the scheme will be implemented by the Department of Women and Child development and the government has made budgetary provision (50,000,000 rupees or approx. $850,000) for its implementation. The scheme includes provisions that children be placed in foster care settings most similar to the child's home context and that foster parents be selected without discrimination based on caste, religion, ethnic status, disability, or health status. The scheme also stipulates that the best interests of the child be paramount in deciding the foster care placement of the child. By this scheme, children may be placed into a foster home under emergency, temporary, short-term, or long-term placements until they are 18 years old and benefits may be further extended to individuals up to 21 years old.
To read the full article, please visit:
http://www.bettercarenetwork.org/BCN/details_news.asp?id=31411&themeID=1002&topicID=1013
Sudan: Grants for orphans and vulnerable children, charitytimes, 2nd July 2013.
International children's charity Hope and Homes for Children has received grants totalling £543,651 from the Department for International Development (DFID) and the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) to help establish family-based care services for abandoned children in Sudan. Working in partnership with the Sudanese Government, Hope and Homes for Children will help abandoned children under the age of three to grow up in family-based care rather than institutions. The charity's new project will prevent child abandonment and reunite institutionalised babies with their parents. The new family-based care services will be rolled out in nine states, including Khartoum, White Nile and Gezira. The project is working with religious and community leaders, the police, social workers, midwives and other organisations to reduce the stigma towards these women and change attitudes over time.
To read the full article, please visit:
Rwanda: Closing of Orphanages On Track, but 2,000 Children Still Need Families, AllAfrica, 22 July 2013. This article discusses challenges in the implementation of the Rwanda National Strategy for Child Care Reform (MIGEPROF) adopted in 2010. The reforms aim at transforming Rwanda's current child care and protection system into a family-based one. It also seeks the effective transformation of existing orphanages into child centered community based services. A year after the National Council for Children (NCC) started to implement the strategy, only three of the 34 orphanages spread across the country have been completely closed, integrating over 700 children in several families. Over 2,000 children are still waiting for their parents, relatives or well-wishers to take them in. According to the NCC, of these children, 70 per cent still have relatives that have failed or refused to come for them. The administrator of an orphanage owned by a Catholic Diocese, is quoted as saying that the slow process is due to the fact that "Rwandans have not fully embraced the spirit of adopting children". He also blamed parents "for ignoring their responsibilities of raising their children" and thus sending them to orphanages with the belief that they will get clothes and school fees.
To read the full article, please visit:
|
|
EVENTS
|
The First Adoption Conference in East Africa
21-22 November, 2013. Nairobi, Kenya
The Child Adoption Network - East Africa is pleased to announce the First Child Adoption Conference in East Africa that will bring together scholars, Government ministries, policy makers, childcare and child protection personnel, the legal fraternity, adoption service personnel, parents, adoptees and other adoption stakeholders. The theme of the conference will be "East African families for East Africa's children." The goal of the conference is to promote domestic adoption as a first alternative for children in need of families especially in East Africa.
The organizers have issued a call for well researched contributions or practical experience abstracts written in English. Deadline for submission of the abstracts is the 15th August 2013.
For more information, please visit: http://www.bettercarenetwork.org/BCN/details_news.asp?id=31350&themeID=1002&topicID=1014
Relaf 2013 Seminar
3-5 October, 2013. Guanajuato, Mexico
The event, entitled "Strengthening the Advances. Creating tools for the accomplishment of the Right to live in a family and in a community" will be organized with the cooperation of the Mexican Network for the Right to live in a Family and a Community, the government of Mexico, and UNICEF. Relevant international and regional organizations have also shown their support. The event will be a space of exchange between the relevant actors of the field of alternative care.
The 2013 Seminar aims to take stock of the advances achieved in the field of alternative care, and to define the region's position about the goals that are still pendent. Among the highlighted themes, there are the Regional Initiative for the de-institutionalization of children under the age of three; the effective implementation of the Guidelines; the Articulated Project between Relaf and ISS; the presentation of the "Report on Discrimination in residential care institutions"; and the training for the realization of the workshops with children and their carers.
For more information, please visit: http://relaf.org/sem2013_en.html
Deadline for free registration and submission of abstracts is August 20, 2013
The 2nd Pan African Conference on Parenting 2013
16th-17th October 2013. Nkopola Lodge, Mangochi, Malawi
Parenting in Africa (PAN) Secratariat is pleased to announce the 2nd pan African conference on parenting. PAN is passionate about strengthening families across the African continent, anticipating an Africa where children are empowered to reach their full potential.
In partnership with YONECO (Youth Net and Counseling), who lead the Malawi PAN Country Chapter, PAN invites you to the 2nd pan African conference on parenting, themed Understanding realities of teenage parenting: A special focus on adolescents (girls and boys) with parenting responsibilities.
The meeting will bring together experts, representatives of national, regional and international organizations, government officials and partners committed to strengthening families to exchange ideas and hence inform policy and practice on parenting with skill in Africa.
For more information, please visit:
http://www.parentinginafrica.org/en/index.php?option=com_eventlist&view=details&id=30:announcing-the-2nd-pan-african-conference-on-parenting-2013&Itemid=27
Deadline for Submission of Abstracts - 20th August 2013
Eurochild's Annual Conference 2013:
Building an inclusive Europe - the contribution of children's participation
13-15 November 2013. Milan, Italy.
Registration for this conference is now open. To register, please use the following link: https://eurochild.wufoo.eu/forms/registration-eurochilds-annual-conference-2013/
For more information, please use the following link:
http://www.eurochild.org/en/news/details-homeblock-links/index.html?tx_ttnews[tt_news]=6947&tx_ttnews[backPid]=185&cHash=3dfe8686d418dd01ee1380fda04f22ec
The early-bird rate applies until 8 September.
|
|
WEBINARS
|
Social Service Workforce Webinar Series
Supporting the Social Service Workforce: Tools for attracting and retaining workers in under-served areas
Thursday, August 8, 2013. 9:00 am ET - 10:30 am ET
Supporting the social service workforce is, in many ways, the most neglected component of social service workforce strengthening. We all understand the importance of planning and financing the workforce and training and developing the workforce. But once we have recruited and trained workers, how do we keep them on the job, happy, and performing to the best of their ability? What attracts, retains, and satisfies health workers and teachers is not very different from what attracts, retains and satisfies social service workers.
The speakers are:
Dr. Carmen Dolea, of the Health Systems Policies and Workforce division of the World Health Organization, will discuss Global Recommendations for increasing access to health workers in remote and rural areas through improved retention.
Wanda Jaskiewicz, CapacityPlus Senior Team Leader, Global Leadership and Health Workforce Effectiveness at IntraHealth International will present on the use of the Rapid Retention Survey Toolkit in Laos to help determine the relative importance health workers place on different job characteristics and predict their decision-making about job postings.
For information on accessing this webinar, please visit:
http://bettercarenetwork.org/BCN/Events.asp
|
|
CONSULTANCY AND JOB POSTINGS
|
APC Request for Applications - Displaced Children and Orphans Fund Project
Advancing Partners & Communities invites qualified organizations to submit an application for projects to improve the safety, well-being, and development of highly vulnerable children. Three projects will be funded by USAID's Displaced Children and Orphans Fund for a three-and-a-half-year period. Priority countries under this request for application include Mozambique, Moldova, Uganda, and Burundi, although other countries may be considered.
Important dates for the Displaced Children and Orphans Project RFA:
Friday, July 12 (1 pm EDT/5 pm GMT) - Questions about RFA due
Thursday, July 18 - Answers to questions posted on www.advancingpartners.org/grants
Thursday, August 22 (1 pm EDT/ 5 pm GMT) - Applications due
Questions regarding the RFA should be directed to: grants-APC@jsi.com
For more information regarding the RFA, please visit: www.advancingpartners.org/grants
The International Rescue Committee (IRC): Technical Advisor, Child Protection
(New York or London)
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is looking for a Technical Advisor, Child Protection. The Child Protection Technical Adviser will be responsible for advancing the work on case management for children. This includes tool development, country support, interagency coordination and fundraising.
This position will reports to the Senior Technical Adviser for Child Protection. This is a maternity cover starting on 1st October 2013 for a period of 9 months, with a possible extension to 12 months.
Essential qualifications, skills and experience for this position include:
- Minimum of Master's Degree or equivalent in social work, social sciences, law, psychology, education or other related field;
- At least five years experience in managing or implementing international relief programs in the child protection sector;
- Strong background in case management practice and direct experience on the IA CP IMS;
- Experience in developing guidelines, procedures and writing reports and technical materials;
For further information about the position and for instructions on how to apply, please visit:
http://ch.tbe.taleo.net/CH02/ats/careers/requisition.jsp?org=IRC&cws=1&rid=9447
Eurochild Consultancy for Conference Background Paper
Eurochild is hiring a consultant to draft background paper for annual conference on child participation. Eurochild's annual conference in 2013 is dedicated to the theme: Building an inclusive Europe - the contribution of children's participation.
The conference aims to promote wide recognition of children's agency, empowerment and influence on their own lives, their families and communities, and the society as a whole. It will bring examples of policy and practice that demonstrate the specific contribution of children's participation in five key areas: education; non-formal education; play, recreation, sports and cultural activities; health, prevention, early intervention, family support and welfare services; the child protection system; and in public decision making. The conference will seek to discuss ways to implement the participation pillar of the European Commission Recommendation "Investing in children: breaking the cycle of disadvantage", issued earlier this year. The conference is primarily adult-led and children are not directly targeted, although some children might be involved at different stages.
For more information, please use the following link:
http://www.eurochild.org/fileadmin/Communications/01_Info_Flash/1307/TORs_consultant_background_paper_Draft__final.pdf
To apply, please email Mafalda.Leal@eurochild.org with "Application to participation consultancy position" in the subject line.
The application deadline is 22 August 2013.
|
|
GENERAL INFORMATION
| |
The newsletter participants, currently 3,320 in total, are working on issues related to the care and support of vulnerable children across Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Americas. The purpose of the newsletter is to enable members to exchange information on matters of mutual concern. If you would like to share a document, raise a specific issue, or reach out in any other way to the Network, please send the information to us at contact@bettercarenetwork.org. In the interest of keeping messages consolidated, we will manage announcements on the newsletter and send out a few messages each month.
We would like to involve as many people as possible who are concerned with better care issues in the Network. Please advise anyone who would like to be added to the newsletter to send us a message at contact@bettercarenetwork.org with"newsletter request" in the subject line. Alternatively, visit the homepage of the Better Care Network website at http://www.bettercarenetwork.org and click on the upper right box where it says, "click here to sign up for our email announcements." Thank you.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
