Displaying 1 - 10 of 72
Recognizing the increasing number of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) and the need to provide standardized and quality alternative childcare and support services, The Ministry of Women and Social Affairs (MOWSA) in collaboration with pertinent child welfare stakeholders, took the initiative to produce a Directive on Alternative Childcare and Support.
The Directive serves as a comprehensive legally binding document aiming to reduce reliance on institutional care services by standardizing alternative care service…
This paper assesses the legal regime governing inter-country adoption under the Ethiopian family laws by making a brief comparative study with correspondent provisions of the Chinese family law.
Accelerating momentum towards child-sensitive, shock-responsive social protection
Social protection has emerged as a crucial policy and programme measure to reduce poverty and help those impacted by crises to prepare for, cope with and recover from shocks. Despite the recognition of the value of social protection, only 26.4 per cent of children globally receive social protection benefits. Global data on access to social protection for displaced children is not available, but gaps are likely even higher as displaced children and their families are often excluded in policies and…
Abstract
In 2018, the Ethiopian Parliament closed its intercountry adoption program. Momentum to end the program followed reports of adoption-related exploitation including the abduction and sale of children, falsification of documentation, bribing of officials, inaccurate testimonies, and false promises to birth families. The Ethiopian Parliament also cited concerns over the identity and psychological problems of adoptees as contributing factors to the ban. This paper explores how adoptive parents, with knowledge of exploitation in their own adoptions, are responding emotionally and…
Abstract
Ethiopia legally banned intercountry adoption in 2018 following reports of corruption, illegal practices, and child trafficking. While the intercountry adoption program is now closed, the enduring legacy of exploitation continues. Through interviews with adoptive parents, this study explores what and how adoption-related exploitation occurred. It also describes a cyclical and iterative process that adoptive parents, impacted by adoption-related exploitation, undertook to understand whether and how referral, concerning, and emergent adoption narratives fit together.
Background: Children without parental care are at high risk for under-nutrition. Ethiopia counts as one of the largest populations of orphans in the world. However, there is no information about the nutritional status of children in Ethiopian orphanage centers. Thus, we aimed to assess magnitude and associated factors of undernutrition among children aged 6–59 months in Ethiopian orphanage centres.
Methods: Institution-based descriptive and analytical cross-sectional study was conducted on 227 children aged 6–59 months in selected orphanage centers of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from July to…
This paper argues that kinship care – the care of children by relatives or friends of the family – represents the greatest resource available for meeting the needs of girls and boys who are orphaned or otherwise live apart from their parents. Using evidence from an in-depth literature review and six country case studies carried out by Family for Every Child members in Ghana, Liberia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda and Zimbabwe,1 it shows that kinship care is widely used, culturally acceptable, and can support the most vulnerable children in ordinary and crisis periods. However, kinship care also…
This paper assesses the impact of Ethiopia's flagship social protection program, the Productive Safety Net Program on the adverse impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the food and nutrition security of households, mothers, and children. The analysis uses pre-pandemic, in-person household survey data and a post-pandemic phone survey. Two-thirds of the respondents reported that their incomes had fallen after the pandemic began, and almost half reported that their ability to satisfy their food needs had worsened. Employing a household fixed effects difference-in-difference approach, the study…
Abstract
The study is about international kinship care arrangements in Ethiopia, focusing on Ethiopian children who applied for an Australian Orphan Relative Visa. A qualitative case study research method was used. Study participants were nine children between the ages of 13-17 years and nine parents/guardians of those children. Other participants were five experts from the Ministry of Women, Children and Youth Affairs, and Federal First Instance Court. In-depth interviews were conducted using semi-structured interview guides. Additional data were also derived from observations and…
In this online event, Family for Every Child members FSCE (Ethiopia), The Mulberry Bush (UK), Praajak (India) and CSID (Bangladesh) discussed children's care in the context of COVID-19. Discussion points included responding to vulnerable groups including children on the move and children with disabilities; domestic violence; kinship care and the digital divide. This webinar also included an overview of what is happening across the membership, and how Family is adapting to support members during this time.