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This document is intended to provide concrete advice on how to put the guiding principles common to most child protection actors into practice. Though cultural traditions and customs may require the advice to be adapted to the specific context, the authors believe that the advice provided is grounded in sufficiently broad experience to guide measures that ensure children under five are not separated when this can be avoided, and, if separated, can be reunited with their families as quickly as possible.
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This paper hopes to contribute to a sorely under-documented field of how to reintegrate institutionalized children back into the community in a post-conflict environment. It provides a brief description of IRC Rwanda’s Reunification and Reintegration Program for Unaccompanied Children, emphasizing its innovative nature and promising field methodologies. It includes a review of core principles and a programmatic overview of center and community-based work, outlining key steps in the process. It also provides a brief review of good practices and offer some points of reflection for…
In June 1994 the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the United Nations Children's Fund together agreed that a coordinated approach to the plight of unaccompanied children in Rwanda was essential. On the assumption that computerized matching would facilitate their reunification with their families, it was decided to centralize on a database the names and other details of unaccompanied children and of parents looking for their children. The…
Introduction
Long-term separation between child and family due to armed conflict creates a number of challenges for family reunification programs. Whereas emergency programs appropriately work towards managing effective “lost and found” type of operations, after long separation, the physical act of reunifying is often not sufficient. This is particularly true for children who are placed in residential centers as an interim solution and for children returning to extended family members. Experience shows that after years in care, children have become institutionalized and are commonly ill…
Using lessons learnt in emergencies, from the genocide in Rwanda to the Asian Tsunami and the earthquake in Haiti, our new report, Misguided Kindness, demonstrates what action is needed to keep families together during crises and to bring separated children back into a safe and nurturing family life. Save the Children warns that people who support orphanages or international adoption in the belief that they’re doing the best for children suffering after a major emergency could in fact be putting those children in even more danger.
As the movement advocating children’s participation in their own life decisions gathered pace in the late 1990s and early 21st century, governments were left with increasingly few options given their continued antipathy to the presence of these children on the streets. NGOs had begun to take the initiative by offering non-formal education opportunities and vocational training to try and give children the skills to get themselves off the streets, but these efforts continued to struggle in the wider context of a society still very much averse to the mere existence of these children. …
Between 2001 and 2003, 360 former Rwandan child soldiers were reintegrated into their communities. One of the most important lessons learned by those working with Demobilized child soldiers (DCS) is the need for follow up with the children after they have been reintegrated. To this end, UNICEF and Save the Children (UK) committed to following up with all of the reintegrated child soldiers through their Baratashye (“going home” in Kinyarwanda) project.
Baratashye is a project aimed at the follow up and support of the demobilized child soldiers after they have been…
Long-term separation between child and family due to armed conflict creates a number of challenges for family reunification programs. Whereas emergency programs appropriately work towards managing effective “lost and found” type of operations, after long separation, the physical act of reunifying is often not sufficient. This is particularly true for children who are placed in residential centers as an interim solution and for children returning to extended family members. Experience shows that after years in care, children have become institutionalized and are commonly ill prepared for…