Displaying 1 - 10 of 14
Real or perceived sexual orientation that is different to the norm is often the basis for discrimination and violence against many people around the world. A group that is particularly vulnerable is children who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) who are at risk of losing parental care and who already lost parental care. For a number of LGBTI children under 18 years of age the rejection experienced within their own families is often the first of many rejections. Thereafter they continue to suffer from the effects of rejection, discrimination and violence within their…
The 21-22 June 2017 Africa Expert Consultation on Violence against Children (VAC) in All Care Settings was the second in a series of regional consultations focused on engaging experts within the region to collaborate, share learning, and formulate a set of regional recommendations for key actors to effectively address violence against children within all care settings,…
This issue brief from the UNHCR highlights key messages from UNHCR in regards to alternative care, including the importance of making alternative care arrangements based on the best interests of the child and using residential or institutional care only as a very last resort. The brief defines the role of the UNHCR in alternative care as well as key concepts of alternative care. The brief reviews the types of alternative care and key actions that UNHCR and its partners can do to ensure the best interests of the child in alternative care. The brief concludes with some examples of the…
This video features a segment of a talk on the effects of care environments on children, hosted by the Christian Alliance for Orphans. The key speakers featured include Dr. Kathryn Whetten & Dr. Charles Nelson, who discuss the Positive Outcomes for Orphans study (POFO) and the Bucharest Early Intervention Project (BEIP), respectively.
Dr. Nelson speaks about the institutionalization of children and its impact on the brain development of institutionalized children. Many children in institutions, says Dr. Nelson, experience isolation, a lack of response to distress, a…
This document contains revised alternative care guidelines for Ethiopia. It discusses how development intervention has shifted from a needs based approach to a rights based approach. While this document points out that participation of children and community has been largely overlooked in the decision-making process, recent trends indicate that a system that supports social participation is a more sustainable means of structuring support.
The objective of the guidelines is to establish a regulatory instrument on childcare systems with a view to contribute toward the improvement of…
This assessment conducted by FHI 360, with support from Ethiopia's Ministry of Women, Youth and Children Affairs (MoWYCA) and the OAK Foundation aimed to generate evidence about formal community and family- based alternative child care services and service providing agencies in Ethiopia, with a particular focus on magnitude, quality and quality-assurance mechanisms. The assessment was conducted in five selected regions (Addis Ababa; Afar; Amhara; Oromia; and Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region…
Permanency for Children: The Development of the BCS Global Foster-to-Adopt Pilot Project in Ethiopia
This report provides initial documentation of a pilot program launched by Bethany Christian Services in 2009 in Ethiopia. An estimated 5 million Ethiopian children (0-17) were identified as having lost one or both parents, as a result of HIV and AIDS, other diseases such as TB and malaria, extreme poverty and famine and migration (2005). This situation has left families financially stretched beyond their limits in providing the traditional model of orphan support and has resulted in increased reliance on institutional care. In order to address this situation the Bethany Christian…
In this TED Talk, poet and playwright Lemn Sissay tells his story of growing up in foster care in the UK. His mother had immigrated to the UK from Ethiopia in the late 1960s and became pregnant. At the time, Sissay says, unmarried women who became pregnant were treated as a threat to the community, were separated from their families, and put into mother and baby homes where adoptive parents would be lined up right away. Mothers, at their most vulnerable moments, would be convinced to sign adoption papers releasing their children to the state and the babies would be given up for…
Over the last decade, research in basic human development has revealed that institutional care - particularly when used to serve children under five - is not an appropriate form of alternative care, and instead of protecting children can put them at further risk of harm. Efforts have been made to transition international thinking away from the use of orphanage-based systems and toward providing family-based care. With this in mind, the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute’s (CCAI) The Way Forward Project brought together a group of…
Factors underlying the vulnerability of children and lack of appropriate parental care include HIV and AIDS, natural disasters, internal migration, and chronic poverty. These factors have been documented as the main reasons children lack parental care on a global level and, more specifically, on the African continent. The same paradigm may be applied to the situation in Ethiopia. With approximately five million orphaned and vulnerable children, the need for alternative care options for vulnerable children is growing. The increase in the number of children requiring…