| BCN Newsletter: 9 November 2013 |
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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:
- Moldova: Lessons learnt in Reforming the Care System from P4EC Moldova.
- Indonesia: Save the Children's Work to Strengthen the Child Protection System.
MAJOR REGIONAL LEVEL INITIATIVES with important implications for children's care:
- Asia Pacific: New Delhi Declaration on South-South Cooperation for Child Rights adopted by 32 states in the region.
- Sub-Saharan Africa: An Inter-agency call to the African Union States to strengthen their child protection system;
- Latin America and the Caribbean: A call to end the placement of children under 3 in institutions;
- Europe: The EU Commission adopted an important recommendation on Investing in Children, making children's care a key area of its policy on breaking the cycle of disadvantage.
FOCUS ON REINTEGRATION:
- New Inter-Agency Report brings together the Global Learning on Family Reintegration;
- DRC: Research on reintegration of street girls in Kinshasa by War Child and Family for Every Child;
- Rapid FTR: A new tool being tested to speed up and improve the efficiency of Family Tracing and Reunification for unaccompanied and separated children in emergencies.
COUNTRY CARE REVIEWS:
- The Russian Federation, Indonesia and Jordan are coming up in front of the Committee on the Rights of the Child: we highlight the information provided by the governments of those countries on children's care in their reports.
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
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IN A FEW WORDS:
"I don't know when I'll return, it all depends on them. If only they would stop insulting me and calling me a witch." (Solange, 16)
Research on Factors Surrounding the Family Reintegration of Street Girls in Kinshasa, DRC
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MOLDOVA
Presentations of the lessons learnt in Reforming the Care System
by Partnerships for EveryChild Moldova
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On the 17th October, Dr. Stela Grigorash, a senior Moldovan child protection expert and the Director of Partnerships for EveryChild Moldova gave a presentation at the USAID/DCOF office in Washington DC, USA, on the important work and lessons learnt in reforming the care system in that country. Just over a decade ago Moldova institutionalized its children at an extremely high rate. Between 2002 and 2012 the country saw a decrease in the percentage of children in residential institutions of over 50%. As a result of the reforms so far 18 institutions have been closed, over 9,700 children are in family-based alternative care, the vast majority in kinship care. Dr. Grigorash gave an overview of the USAID/DCOF-funded work to support the government of Moldova in transforming the national child protection system, then discussed in depth specific approaches and methods to deinstitutionalization, reintegrating children into families, and preventing unnecessary separation of children from families.
In a first general power point presentation, Dr. Grigorash provides an overview of the institutional care situation in Moldova and explore the push and pull factors for children's institutionalization, and the background to child care reforms in the country. She highlights the key results from those reforms and explains the approach taken by the USAID/DCOF-funded work to support the government of Moldova in transforming the national child protection system and implementing a major deinstitutionalization process, including the theory of change underlying it. She identifies key success factors but also underlines the remaining challenges and the strategy for continuing reforms.
To access this presentation, please visit:
http://bettercarenetwork.org/BCN/details.asp?id=31983&themeID=1002&topicID=1017
In a second more technical presentation, Dr. Grigorash presents in more details the lessons learnt through the care reform process in Moldova around 8 key areas of change, including gate-keeping, the transformation of residential care, reallocation of funding, communication strategies and child participation. These presentations provide important documentation of learning in transforming the care system at the country level, which can contribute to the work of others working to reform the care system in their countries.
To access this presentation, please visit:
http://bettercarenetwork.org/BCN/details.asp?id=31984&themeID=1002&topicID=1017
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INDONESIA
Changing the Paradigm: Save the Children's Work to Strengthen the Child Protection System in Indonesia 2005-2012
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Following the devastating tsunami and earthquake that struck the province of Aceh in Indonesia in December 2004, Save the Children complemented its emergency response with the placement of two advisers in the Indonesian Ministry of Social Affairs (KEMENSOS) to support the Government in reviewing the effectiveness of the national child protection system. The existing system was found to rely almost exclusively on residential care interventions and, although these institutions received the bulk of government funding for social services for vulnerable children, they were almost entirely unregulated. Furthermore, there was little awareness of the potential negative impact of institutionalization on children and considerable vested interests that drew children away from their families and into long-term residential care. In 2005 Save the Children began, in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Affairs and other key stakeholders, a major process to reform the national child protection system with a particular focus on changing the paradigm from over-reliance on residential care and towards child and family centered interventions. To achieve this, the organization adopted a systems approach to child protection, working to strengthen the legal, policy and organizational framework, supporting the development of more appropriate mechanisms and responses, with the financial and human resources required to deliver these services.
This report documents the work conducted over a period of 7 years and is focused on 5 key areas of change: Evidence based advocacy through research, that included children who contributed directly to the change process; Policy and legal reforms, including the development of a framework to regulate the use of institutional care and ensure the provision of a range of family based alternative care options; Capacity building and engagement of key duty bearers and stakeholders in the change process through a team of 'champions' that could drive the process across sectors; A shift in human and financial resources towards child and family centered services, including supporting the development of social work professionals with the skills and mandates to work directly with children and families; and the Establishment of good models of interventions that support family based care and protection. Each section of the report is organized around key components of an effective child protection system and provides an overview of 'What was done and why', 'The approach taken' and 'Key findings and learning'. Case studies are provided throughout the report to illustrate the range of issues faced by children and their families, and some of the challenges in delivering more appropriate responses to them.
To access the full document, please visit:
http://bettercarenetwork.org/BCN/details.asp?id=31998&themeID=1002&topicID=1017
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ASIA PACIFIC
The New Delhi Declaration on South-South Cooperation for Child Rights
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A New Delhi Declaration renewing governments' commitments to the rights of children and pledging to support each other in the achievement of those rights, was adopted unanimously on 25th October 2013 by Asian and Pacific States attending the Second High Level Meeting on South-South Cooperation for Child Rights in Asia and the Pacific. The meeting, hosted by the government of India and supported by UNICEF, was attended by representatives of 32 states from across South and East Asia and the Pacific.
Prior to adopting the Declaration, participants discussed lessons learned and best practices on early childhood development, children in urban environments, and opportunities and issues regarding adolescents. They also focused on ways to enhance South-South cooperation in the interest of the region's children. The Declaration recognizes that "early childhood development policies and programmes that support the care and education of all children (including children with special needs and orphaned children) are of critical importance to the immediate well-being of children and to their future. Investing in the early years is a key strategy to reduce social inequalities." It also underlines that investments in early childhood development interventions, which ensure access for all children, with special attention to the most vulnerable, produce significant economic returns for individuals, families, communities, and countries." The declaration notes in its recommendations the importance of parental education and prevention from abuse and violence within families and communities.
To access the full document, please visit:
http://bettercarenetwork.org/BCN/details.asp?id=32071&themeID=1001&topicID=1006
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SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
Joint Inter-Agency Statement on
Strengthening Child Protection Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa
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Thirteen agencies working in Africa have issued a Joint Statement calling on African governments to strengthen their child protection systems to secure the right of children to a life free from violence, abuse, exploitation and neglect in both emergency and non-emergency settings. The agencies, which include UNICEF as well as networks of NGOs, delivered their recommendations during the 22nd Session of the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, on 6 November 2013, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The Joint Statement draws on a growing body of practice and evidence on child protection systems strengthening in sub-Saharan Africa, and is inspired by the dialogue and findings of a multi-agency conference on the topic that took place in Dakar, Senegal in May 2012. The objective of the Statement is to (i) present a common understanding of child protection systems in sub-Saharan Africa and why they are important and worthy of investment; and (ii) issue a call to action to governments, the African Union, regional economic communities, multilateral agencies, donors, the private sector, academia, civil society organisations, communities and organised children's and youth groups. Among other things, the joint statement underlines that the strengthening of child protection systems in sub-Saharan Africa ideally centres on the child and the family, broadening out to include community and kinship mechanisms and traditional authority and mediation structures. It also highlights how patterns of socialisation, approaches to child-rearing, and the relationships between children and adults also influence their interaction.
To access the full document, please visit:
http://bettercarenetwork.org/BCN/details.asp?id=32039&themeID=1001&topicID=1010
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LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN REGION:
Call to Action to End the Placement of Children Under 3 in Institutions
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On the 22nd October 2013, three Latin American presidents (Costa Rica, Honduras and Paraguay) gave their support to a new regional campaign in the Latin American and Caribbean region launched to end the placement of children under three years of age in institutions. This 'Call to action' is led by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), the Latin American and Caribbean Chapter of the Global Movement for Children (MMI-CLAC), the Latin American Foster Care Network (RELAF), the United Nations' Special Representative of the Secretary General on Violence against Children, and UNICEF. The campaign launch took place in Panama City and was presided by the president of the Republic of Costa Rica. A separate launch is due to take place in the Caribbean region.
Although there is a serious lack of official data disaggregated by age, the little information that is available demonstrates the seriousness of the problem for girls and boys in the region: it is estimated that more than 240,000 children live in institutions. The 'Call to action' recommends that States in the region implement immediate reforms to child protection systems, including the enactment of legislation to limit the placement of children under three years of age in residential care institutions, with rare exceptions for such placements for a pre-determined and very limited period of time; the allocation of sufficient resources to support vulnerable families and develop specific programmes to avoid the separation of children from their families, the development and implementation of alternative family-based care programmes for children at risk of being deprived of living in a family environment, particularly for those under three years of age who are not in the care of their parents. A communication campaign in Spanish and a website were also launched to support the call to action, entitled "hablapormi" (Speak for me"), which features two powerful videos, including a message by UNICEF LAC and the Special Representative of the Secretary General on Violence against Children, Marta Santos Pais.
To read the UNICEF brief on the Call to Action (in English) and for further information on the campaign (in Spanish), please visit:
http://bettercarenetwork.org/BCN/details.asp?id=31997&themeID=1002&topicID=1017
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EUROPE
EU Commission Recommendation
Investing in Children: Breaking the Cycle of Disadvantage
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The European Commission adopted in February 2013 an important Recommendation (2013/112/EU) on Investing in Children, stressing the importance of early intervention and preventative approaches. Adopted together with its new Social Investment Package (SIP), it makes quality childcare one of its key policy areas to break the cycle of disadvantage in early years and reduce the risk of child poverty and social exclusion. Of particular note, the recommendation addresses the importance of children's care directly, through support for parents' participation in the labour market, but also a series of recommendations to enhance family support and the quality of alternative care settings. It calls on Member States to strengthen child protection and social services in the field of prevention; help families develop parenting skills in a non-stigmatising way, whilst ensuring that children removed from parental care grow up in an environment that meets their needs:
- Ensure that poverty is never the only justification for removing a child from parental care; and aim at enabling children to remain in or return to the care of their parents by, for example, tackling the family's material deprivation;
- Ensure adequate gate-keeping to prevent children being placed in institutions and provide for regular reviews in the event of such placements;
- Stop the expansion of institutional care settings for children without parental care;
- Promote quality, community-based care and foster care within family settings instead, where children's voice is given due consideration;
- Ensure that children without parental care have access to quality services (both mainstream and specific services) related to their health, education, employment, social assistance, security and housing situation, including during their transition to adulthood;
- Provide appropriate support to children left behind when one or both parents migrate to another country to work, as well as to their replacement carers.
The recommendation also calls on states to ensure that 2014-2020 Structural Funds interventions are effective, pursue evidence-based strategies to reduce early school leaving, involving relevant stake holders and measures to support the transition from institutional to community-based care;
To access the full document, please visit:
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FOCUS ON REINTEGRATION
Reaching for Home: Global Learning on Family Reintegration in low
and lower-middle income countries
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This inter-agency, desk-based research aims to arrive at a clearer understanding of reintegration practices for separated children in low and lower-middle income countries. It pulls together learning from practitioners and academics working with a range of separated children, such as those torn from their families by emergencies, children who have been trafficked or migrated for work, and children living in institutions or on the streets. The report underlines that whilst there is no global definition of the term 'reintegration', there is now general agreement that reintegration is a process and not an event, and that it involves more than the simple physical placement of a separated child back within a family. The report examines practice across the different stages of the process - determining suitability for reintegration, preparation, reunification, and post-reunification support - using examples from the field to illustrate the range of activities in place. Of particular note, the section on the preparation process explores the range of transitional alternative care options used by agencies, including drop-in centres, temporary shelters and transit centers, as well as family based placements, with kins or foster carers, highlighting learning from practice.
The paper identifies 11 principles of promising practice for those attempting to ensure the successful reintegration of children. Among others, the need to recognize and respect the range of experiences, needs and situations that separated children face, rather than adopting 'one size fits all' approaches to reintegration, including by ensuring the involvement of the child and his/her family in establishing the benchmarks for success and allowing the time and, as far as possible, the resources it takes to achieve them. It also points out that reintegration requires long-term investment, and that is not something that can be offered to children on a temporary basis, as it requires dedication, consistency and quality - all of which require a long-term investment in time, funding, and resources. A particular challenge, as many organisations working in this field are NGOs and thus obtain some of their resources from private sources, working within the constraints set by donors. The report also highlights that there is insufficient documentation to date of reintegration from residential care in low or lower-middle income countries; where it exists, it sheds little light on differences according to age of the child, disability and the context in which it takes place. It concludes by providing a vision of shared learning to guide a stronger and more common approach to supporting the family reintegration of separated children.
To access the full document, please visit:
http://bettercarenetwork.org/BCN/details.asp?id=32061&themeID=1005&topicID=1033
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Research on Factors Surrounding the Family Reintegration of Street Girls
in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo
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This research looked at the factors affecting the family reintegration of girls in the Tshangu district of Kinshasa, DRC, an operational zone of the local NGO OSEPER, a partner of War Child for a 3-year project, seeking to address the needs of street-connected girls, including family reintegration. It aimed at uncovering the complex dynamics behind the issue of family reintegration of girls in Kinshasa, what makes girls want to stay in their family environment and what are the interventions that are likely to support their durable reintegration, either in their original family or another family, or through other ways that will be safer for them than the mechanisms they currently resort to for their survival. There are an estimated 20,341 children with street connections in Kinshasa, 44% of which are girls. NGOs estimate that 9 girls out of 10 are living from income from prostitution and that the average age for starting sexual activity on the streets is 12 years old. Of the girls interviewed, 40% stated that conflict, abuse and neglect in the family forced them on to the streets; while 38% left following accusations of witchcraft, which also involves high levels of violence and sometimes torture as part of expiation or purification rites. It appears that these 2 factors are major push factors leading girls to the streets. Family breakdown was found to be a recurrent characteristic among most of the families.
The research found that across all categories interviewed one of the key reasons why reintegration fails is that the initial cause for departure and/or family separation has not been properly addressed before reintegration, and therefore girls return to an environment in which they still feel uncomfortable, unsafe, or discriminated against. The research also explored the range of care options and found that the vast majority of the girls interviewed (78%) affirmed their wish to return eventually, even among those that had experiences of failed reintegration, although not necessarily with the same family member with whom they were living before. It reviewed the use of short term and longer-term residential care but found that only a tiny minority of girls interviewed mentioned residential centres as a favorite place to be or live. Other care options reviewed included the use of foster families, group homes and independent living. The authors conclude that there is no one single care option or model that will suit girls connected to the streets, therefore a wider range of alternative care options need to be tested to meet girls' needs. It calls on the agencies to consider piloting fostering and kinship care, offering also short-term alternatives to a centre based approach such as temporary kinship care for girls who have kept positive links with a particular relative or family friend.
To access the full document, please visit:
http://bettercarenetwork.org/BCN/details.asp?id=32062&themeID=1004&topicID=1027
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RapidFTR
An Innovation to Speed Up and Improve the Efficiency of Family Tracing and Reunification of Unaccompanied and Separated Children in Emergencies
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The Inter-Agency Guiding Principles on Unaccompanied and Separated Children (2004) underline the importance of identifying, registering and documenting unaccompanied and separated children as quickly as possible in an emergency context, whether a natural disaster or an armed conflict. Family Tracing and Reunification (FTR) has relied on outdated methods of registration, with data being recorded on paper and later entered into a database system. This can result in precious hours and days being lost in efforts to reunite children with their caregivers. RapidFTR is an open source, volunteer-driven project, under active development by UNICEF, which has received funding from the Humanitarian Innovation Fund and UNICEF Supply Division. It is a versatile open-source mobile phone application and data storage system that seeks to expedite the FTR process by helping humanitarian workers collect, sort and share information about unaccompanied and separated children in emergency situations so they can be registered for care services and reunited with their families.
RapidFTR is specifically designed to streamline and speed up FTR efforts both in the immediate aftermath of a crisis and during ongoing recovery efforts. It allows for quick input of a child's essential details and photo and this information is uploaded to a central database whenever network access becomes available so workers can register children in their care, and search existing entries to help families find their missing children. UNICEF has been field-testing RapidFTR in Uganda since 2012 in partnership with UNHCR, ICRC, URCS, and Save the Children, and since mid 2013 in South Sudan. The hope is that this tool can be used by all child protection and humanitarian organizations, and that it can be adapted to apply more broadly to document vulnerable children in a variety of contexts and for a variety of purposes, including at health services, schools and as part of civil registry systems. A case study by UNICEF's Country office in Uganda, illustrates how RapidFTR has been used to reunite three children who fled the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo with their families.
To access the case study, please visit:
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COUNTRY CARE REVIEWS
RUSSIAN FEDERATION, INDONESIA AND JORDAN: Care related sections of their reports to the CRC
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We continue our focus on the reports of major countries coming up in front of the Committee during the next two sessions. In this issue we highlight some of the information provided by the Russian Federation, Indonesia and Jordan in their reports, with a focus on sections addressing Family Environment and Alternative Care.
- The Russian Federation has submitted its fourth and fifth combined report on the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child which will be examined by the Committee on the Rights of the Child during the current session, which is due to be examined by the Committee on the Rights of the Child at its 65th Session, taking place between 13-31 January 2014.
To access highlights of the sections relevant to care and read the extracted sections in full, please visit:
- Indonesia has submitted its third and fourth combined report on the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (dated 18th October 2012), which is due to be examined by the Committee on the Rights of the Child at its 66th Session, taking place in May-June 2014 in Geneva.
To access highlights of the sections relevant to care and read the extracted sections in full, please visit:
- Jordan has submitted its fourth and fifth combined report on the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (dated 1st March 2013), which is due to be examined by the Committee on the Rights of the Child at its 66th Session, taking place in May-June 2014 in Geneva.
To access highlights of the sections relevant to care and read the extracted sections in full, please visit:
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IN THE MEDIA
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U.S. lawmakers call for action to curb Internet child trading, Reuters, 29 October, 2013.
U.S. lawmakers called for federal action to prevent parents from giving unwanted adopted children to strangers met on the Internet, and the Illinois attorney general urged Facebook and Yahoo to police online groups where children may be advertised.
The call follows publication of a series of articles by Reuters uncovering a practice in the U.S. referred to as "private re-homing", where adoptive parents advertise online through social media groups to find new 'parents' for the children they no longer want, handing them over without any formal process or supervision.
The demands come as nations whose children have been adopted by Americans contend that the U.S. government is not doing enough to stop the practice. A majority of the children advertised for 're-homing' were adopted through inter-country adoptions, according to Reuters. On the 29th October, 18 federal lawmakers called for a Congressional hearing on re-homing. In a letter submitted to a House subcommittee that oversees adoption, the bipartisan group said the news agency's series "drew attention to the many disturbing dangers and problems associated with this practice." The U.S. lawmakers also requested a study by the investigative arm of Congress, the Government Accountability Office. The study would identify gaps in state and federal laws "related to the oversight and prosecution of wrong-doers in the re-homing of children." It also would identify ways to better support struggling adoptive families.
To read the full article, please visit:
Situation with orphans in Russia improves dramatically, Pravda.Ru, 24 October 2013
In this interview given to Pravda.Ru, the Commissioner for Children's Rights under the Russian President, Pavel Astakhov, talked about changes in the field of adoptions and alternative care in Russia during the recent years. "During this time, 3.5 years, while I'm in the office, we have checked almost all regions in terms of their readiness to protect children, to give them all that is necessary under the law. It goes about, for example, the efforts not to send a child to an orphanage, but help a family recover, if something happened in that family. As a last resort, if parents have committed a crime against their child, we should give the child an opportunity to live in a new foster home," Astakhov said. "Five years ago, we did not have people lining up to adopt orphans. In the beginning of this year, we have nearly 20,000 people lining for foster children," the official continued. Prior to the Dima Yakovlev law, there was a system created to train foster parents; schools of foster families were founded in Russian regions, Mr. Astakhov added.
First Deputy Chairwoman of the State Duma Committee on Family, Women and Children, Olga Batalina, explained to Pravda.Ru why orphanages were closing in Russia and what should be done to push more families towards the decision to adopt orphaned children. "Orphanages have been closing in most regions during the recent years, and this is natural dynamics. The number of children living in children's homes, has been declining steadily - and that's good," Batalina told Pravda.Ru.
According to the official, 95 percent of all children left without care, found in the first half of 2013, were either returned to their biological parents, or accommodated in other families. "Of course, one can not be satisfied with these figures, because the federal data bank still has 110,000 children who live in various institutions," Batalina said.
To read the full article, please visit:
http://bettercarenetwork.org/BCN/details_news.asp?id=32072&themeID=1002&topicID=1017
Promoting Children's Rights Key to Future Development, Prosperity, delegates stress as Third Committee concludes debate,
UN DPI, 18th October 2013.
The 68th General Assembly is on its way in New York, and delegates to the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) concluded on the 18th October a three-day debate on the rights of children. Featuring 46 statements by Member States, the general debate focused on the protection and promotion of the rights of children. Each delegate outlined the substantial national investments they were taking to improve the lives of children.
Citing the Nobel laureate in economics, James Heckman, who said that early interventions to help disadvantaged children had the best effect and were being economically profitable, Norway's delegate informed the Assembly that each marginalized child who dropped out of the system cost any society the equivalent of about $2 million. "Failing to intervene and invest in children carries a high price for any society," she said. The delegates of Algeria, Rwanda, the Democratic of Congo, Montenegro, Vietnam and Swaziland, among others, highlighted national policies and strategies to support families facing multiple challenges in the care of their children including poverty and social exclusion, and to support children deprived of parental care. The delegates of Iran and Egypt, among others, underlined that with 2015 approaching, the rights and welfare of children should be placed at the centre of the post-2015 agenda.
To read the full article, please visit:
http://bettercarenetwork.org/BCN/details_news.asp?id=32073&themeID=1001&topicID=1006
Child protection is inadequate at one in seven councils in England, says Ofsted. The Guardian, 15th October 2013.
A new report by the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted)which inspects children's social care including child protection services, said more needed to be done to address "incompetent and ineffective" leadership in children's services. One in seven councils in England are inadequate at caring for some of the most vulnerable children in society, the report has found. The standard of child protection at 20 councils is "unacceptably poor", Ofsted warned. Only one in four local authorities is judged to be good at safeguarding children. Ofsted's national director for social care, Debbie Jones, said: "The picture of performance we are publishing today shows there is clearly an ongoing need for improvement." "Some services are increasingly expert at reducing risk, helping families to look after their children and enabling children at risk in their area to make good progress."
One of the 20 councils deemed to be inadequate was Birmingham city council, which has now failed on seven inspection judgments. HM Chief Inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw called England's second city a "national disgrace". He said: "These characteristics of failure have been encapsulated in one area in particular: England's second city, Birmingham, a city where we have had seven failed inspection judgments, eight whistleblowing incidents in four years, nine years of inadequate serious case reviews, and 10 years of failure for vulnerable children. "Why is it that nearly a third of children in the city live in households on low incomes? Why is it that infant mortality is almost twice the national average, worse than in Cuba and on a par with Latvia and Chile? "They must surely be linked to the evidenced failure of corporate governance on a grand scale - governance that has failed to grasp the nettle over many years and which has relegated our second city to fourth division for children's services."
To read the full article, please visit:
http://bettercarenetwork.org/BCN/details_news.asp?id=32074&themeID=1001&topicID=1007
Jordan: Journalist uncovers widespread child abuse, DW Akademie - October 14, 2013
An interview with Jordanian journalist, Hanan Khandagji, who uncovered harrowing child abuse cases while researching institutions for disabled children. The journalist went into the institutions disguised as a volunteer worker, explaining, "I knew if I had gone into these places saying I was a journalist things would have seemed to be quite different. It would have looked like the children were being well cared for and that the nurses and caregivers were incredibly kind. That's why I decided to go in as a volunteer worker. I was shocked by how the children were treated. I went to another institution and found the same abuses and conditions, and I interviewed parents who confirmed that their children were being beaten, burned and sexually abused. The medical reports I saw also confirmed this."
Asked whether her work resulted in any legal ramifications for abuses Khandagji replied, "There have definitely been some changes. Some of the institutions were closed down, and the King appointed a committee which produced a report within 14 days. It pointed to alarming conditions - to children being put into cages or given sleeping pills during the day to make them sleep. Seventeen heads of institutions had to appear before court on charges of torture and neglect. Some laws have been changed and there are tighter restrictions for establishing an institution, but there haven't been any radical changes. It's still fairly easy to establish an institution, and institutions should not be the ones hiring caregivers - this should be done by independent government agencies. Overall, there needs to be stricter supervision, and this could be partly done by organizations from civilsociety."
Her efforts were recently recognized by the German Development Media Award.
To read the full article, please visit:
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WEBINARS
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Social Service Workforce Webinar Series
Two-Part Series on Strengthening Social Service Systems through Cross-Sectoral Collaboration
Thursday, November 21, 2013 9:00 am EST - 10:30 am EST
Part Two: Multi-sectoral Coordination at the Policy and Planning Level
This webinar will explore ways in which collaboration has led to policy changes, a stronger social service system, and better service delivery for vulnerable families. Making such changes often requires social service leaders to use systems thinking and build relationships within the public, private and non-profit sectors that can facilitate cooperation and action to improve the situation of children and families. To illustrate this concept, speakers will share and discuss experiences of planning across ministries and stakeholder groups to develop and implement standards of care for vulnerable children, as well as cultivate leaders in a variety of sectors with the capacity to drive policy outcomes to improve services for children.
Speakers:
- Renald Morris is a program manager for the Leadership and Innovation Network for Collaboration in the Children's Sector (LINC) and African Senior Fellows Programme with the Synergos Institute in South Africa.
- Roselyn Were works with URC as a Senior Improvement Advisor for OVC, supporting both government and implementers in Kenya to mainstream improvements at the point of care. Roselyn is a social scientist with 19 years of experience in social development work in Kenya.
Please use this link to access the webinar any time after 8:30 am EDT on November 21:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/HLSQYJN
SAVE THE DATE!
The Global Social Service Workforce Alliance and Better Care Network:
Webinar on the implications of deinstitutionalisation to the social service workforce
December 5, 2013 9:00am EST
In December, the Global Social Service Workforce Alliance and Better Care Network will co-host a webinar on staffing deinstitutionalization processes as children transition from residential care into family-based care arrangements in Rwanda and Moldova.
More details about speakers will be provided soon on:
http://bettercarenetwork.org/BCN/Events.asp
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EVENTS
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A Child's Right to Live in a Supportive, Protective and Caring Environment: Strengthening Family Care and Appropriate Alternative Care for Children, 22 October 2013, United Nations (Summary of the meeting)
On Tuesday, October 22rd, the NGO Committee on UNICEF's Working Group on Children without Parental Care in collaboration with the Office of the Special Representative to the Secretary-General on Violence against Children and the Permanent UN Missions of Austria and Brazil hosted an event at the UN, which drew representatives from Member States, the UN and civil society, to review progress on the implementation of the guidelines and share experiences from various regional perspectives, in particular Latin America and West and Central Africa. The discussion spanned experiences of implementing the Alternative Care Guidelines at country level, the expanded guidance from the Moving Forward Handbook, on-going regional initiatives to prevent the institutionalisation of children under three, and the challenges remaining in fulfilling children's right to care and protection across the globe. Speakers included Ambassador Guilherme Patriota from Brazil, Rosa Marķa Ortiz, Commissioner and Rapporteur on the Rights of the Child, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Mr. Gerhard Doujak, Head of the Department for Human Rights and Minority Issues, Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs, Cecilia Anicama, Programme Specialist to the Special Representative of the Secretary General on Violence against Children, Roberta Cecchetti ,Senior Advocacy and Policy Advisor, Child Protection Initiative, Save the Children and Peter Gross Child Protection Specialist at UNICEF.
For a summary of the event, please visit:
http://bettercarenetwork.org/BCN/details_news.asp?id=32065&themeID=1005&topicID=1031
First East African Child Adoption Conference
Please note registration has been extended to 15th November, 2013.
Child Adoption Network − East Africa in partnership with the Government of Kenya is organizing this conference to create awareness and to demystify the misconceptions about local adoption. It will enable those involved in child care to touch base with policy makers. This will streamline and encourage workable solutions for local adoptions. Kinship care will be one of the options explored, which will reduce the number of children in care institutions. Adopting families will receive ongoing support to strengthen family bonding.
The objectives of the conference include but not limited to:
- Promoting domestic adoptions.
- Demystifying adoption myths.
- Advocating user-friendly adoption policies.
- Reducing the cost of the legal process and enhancing the accessibility to the courts.
For further information and registration, please visit:
http://www.adoptionea.org
17th ICASA Conference 2013: "Now More Than Ever: Targeting Zero" 7- 11th December 2013: Cape Town, South Africa
The conference theme "Now More Than Ever: Targeting Zero" is derived from the UNAIDS' vision of striving for "Zero new HIV infections. Zero discrimination. Zero AIDS-related deaths", but it also highlights the need to "now more than ever" maintain the commitment to ensure access to treatment for everyone in Africa irrespective of their ability to pay for such treatment. This year's ICASA is an opportunity for the international community, and all Africans, to join efforts in committing to achieving an AIDS-free Africa.
The conference will be chaired by Professor Robert Soudre, the President of the Society for AIDS in Africa (SAA) and co-chaired by Professor Ian Sanne, the CEO of Right Care and Associate Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of the Witwatersrand.
The objectives of ICASA 2013 are to:
* Serve as an advocacy platform to mobilise African leaders, partners and the community to
increase ownership, commitment and support to the AIDS response.
* Provide a forum for exchange of knowledge, skills and best practices in Africa and from around the globe.
* Mobilise support to scale up evidence-based responses to HIV and AIDS, sexually transmitted infections, tuberculosis and Malaria in order to achieve the millennium development goals.
* Act as platform to hold accountable all stakeholders to scale up and sustain the AIDS response.
* Create opportunities to define priorities and set policy and programme agendas to enhance
mobilisation and effective utilisation of resources.
For more information, please visit:
http://www.icasa2013southafrica.org/
Joint Council: Scholarship Opportunity to attend the 38th Annual Child Welfare Symposium
Joint Council is pleased to announce that for the first time it will provide scholarships to emerging leaders in the child welfare field interested in attending the 38th Annual Child Welfare Symposium in San Francisco, California, from April 7 - 9, 2014.
The scholarship will provide financial support for four (4) emerging leaders working in the child welfare field to attend the Annual Symposium. Each scholarship covers the registration costs for all three days of the Symposium, travel to/from the Symposium and lodging at the Holiday Inn Fisherman's Wharf for three nights. Scholarship recipients will be responsible for expenses including but not limited to meals (those not provided at the Symposium) and incidentals. The Joint Council thanks its generous sponsors, including the Dave Thomas Foundation for their support of this program.
For information regarding eligibility and the application process, please visit:
http://bettercarenetwork.org/BCN/Events.asp
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CONSULTANCY AND JOB POSTINGS
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UNICEF Request For Proposal: Designing a large scale five-year (2013 to 2017) child protection violence prevention campaign framework promoting core child protection messages in Malawi.
Objectives
The purpose of this consultancy is to design a five-year (2013 to 2017) campaign framework on prevention of violence against children in Malawi. The campaign framework should constitute one core message or tag line supported by a range of messages on prevention of violence against children and a communication strategy for designed messages. The campaign framework will facilitate in attaining five primary results while contributing to a number of broader child protection results.
Scope of Work
The development of the campaign framework on prevention of violence against children is expected to be finalised in 90 working days beginning 1st November 2013 and ending not later than 31st March 2014. Flexible arrangements on actual working days will be agreed upon with the consultant taking into consideration the upcoming Festive Season and New Year holidays.
For the full TOR and details about the application process, please visit:
http://bettercarenetwork.org/BCN/details_news.asp?id=32037&themeID=1004&topicID=1029
Application deadline
28th November 2013, at 05:00 PM GMT (+02:00) Harare, Pretoria
UNICEF Director, Office of Research, D-2, Florence, Italy
The incumbent will be responsible for further strengthening UNICEF's reputation as an evidence-based organization, set a practical but cutting-edge research agenda, build partnerships with leading academic institutions and think tanks and pioneer innovative approaches in conducting and communicating research and knowledge on the situation of children around the world.
Minimum requirements include:
- Ph.D or equivalent level in social sciences, public policy, international relations, public health, education, law or other fields related to the work of UNICEF.
- At least 15 years of progressively responsible professional and managerial work experience at the national or international level in development policy analysis and/or research and research management.
- Engagement in and familiarity with academic, policy and development institutions and professional networks is essential.
- Experience heading a research or similar institution highly desirable.
- Fluency in English and command of at least one other UN working language.
- Strong professional record and reputation in social science research, preferably on children.
- Leadership experience that includes advancing an organisational agenda in a national or international organisation.
For more information about the position and to apply, please visit:
http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/index_70752.html
Application deadline 29 November 2013.
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GENERAL INFORMATION
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The newsletter participants, currently 3,420 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.
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