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This is a joint statement by the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on Ukrainian children with disabilities. They express concern about the thousands of Ukrainian children with disabilities who were living in residential institutions and have been evacuated from war zones to Western Ukraine or to other countries, as well as those who have remained in unsafe areas. In particular, they draw attention to children with high support requirements who are negatively affected by institutionalization.
"We support the effort of the…
This publication serves as a guide for responsible voluntourism, both for volunteers and volunteer tour operators. This publication describes what is required of tour operators, how they can design short-term volunteer programmes in a responsible manner and reduce the risks especially for children. The publication also provides recommendation for individuals who are considering voluntourism opportunities.
Anna McKeon, consultant for the Better Volunteering Better Care initiative, presented at a launch event of a new report on orphanage volunteering from Next Generation Nepal. The presentation highlights the findings from the Better Volunteering Better Care project and considers potential next steps for addressing the issue of orphanage volunteering in Nepal.
Better care for children means that children should grow up with their parents and in their own community for as long as possible. Help should thus be aimed at the support of vulnerable families. Sending volunteers to children’s homes is in conflict with the vision of better care for children as laid down in international guidelines. However reality shows that many volunteers without relevant educational background still go abroad and work with vulnerable children for a short period of time. In response to this situation Better Care Network Netherlands has developed these guidelines. Through…
The Prime Minister of Grenada, Honorable Dr. Keith Mitchell, presented the Call to Action during the 35th Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Conference of Heads of Government held in Antigua and Barbuda from 1-4 July 2014. He urged the Heads of State of the Caribbean region to commit to ending the placement of children under three years of age in residential care institutions. The Heads of Government received and supported the submission.
In line with the UN Guidelines on Alternative Care, the Call to Action urges Governments in Latin America and…
Responsibletravel.com, a travel company operating from the UK since 2001 has issued Guidelines for partner operators for volunteering directly with vulnerable children, including in the context of orphanage volunteering.
In July 2013, Responsible.com took the unprecedented step to remove temporarily all volunteering trips to orphanages from its offers, following increasing coverage in the media highlighting the harmful impact of ‘volunteer tourism’ in children’s homes in a number of countries. Following consultations with experts in the field, the company has issued new guidelines…
This handbook, Moving Forward: Implementation of the ‘Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children,’ was developed by CELSIS under an initiative of the Working Group on Children without Parental Care of the NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the project’s Steering Committee which included representatives from ISS, SOS Children’s Villages International, Family for Every Child, ATD Fourth World, Better Care Network, RELAF, and UNICEF.
It is designed as a tool for legislators, policy-makers, and all…
Corporal punishment is inflicted on children in nearly all societies and cultures. Its legal and social acceptance is a potent symbol of children’s perceived low status. Although it is just as violent to hit a child as it is to hit an adult, by 2012, only 33 states worldwide had recognized this in legislation. In the remaining 165 states, children can be legally subjected to violent, humiliating and degrading punishment by those whose role it is to take care of them. But all children have a right to legal protection from all violent punishment, however “light”, wherever they are and whoever…
Who are we talking about? Care leavers are generally recognised as people leaving the social protection system.
We focus on young people without a stable family who are leaving or have recently left alternative care or residential placements (where they have grown up) after reaching majority or a legally set age (usually, 18 yrs old).
The risk of social exclusion they are subject to increases significantly in the presence of the following variables:
• long-term permanence in the welfare alternative or residential care system
• stay in residential placements (…
This briefing document outlines three major projects conducted under the auspices of the European Commission's Daphne Programme. These projects included:
- A survey of 33 European countries, designed to map the number and characteristics of children less than 3 years old in institutional care for more than three months without a parent. There were 23,099 young children (11 per 10,000) in institutional care across the survey area. Four countries had less than one per 10,000 young children in institutions; alarmingly, eight countries had between 31 and 60 children per 10,000 in…