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The illegal removal of children from biological family life during conflict has a longstanding history. This research paper provides a brief overview of the Vietnam Babylift and of a more recent child abduction attempt in Chad. Then, turning to the history of child abduction and adoption history in Latin America, the paper presents the conflicts of El Salvador and Argentina and discusses ‘living disappeared’ children – those who disappear into adoption networks during war. The research explores the post-conflict social realities in both nations. The role of the social worker and specific…
This paper, produced by RELAF, is part of a series of publications on children without parental care in Latin America: Contexts, causes and answers. This document, and others in the series, pertains to the broad topic of children without parental care and examines the particular situation of institutionalised children. The information and analysis is focused on five central themes: first, the verification and analysis of the existence of large (or macro) institutions in the region; second, the institutionalization of infants due to “social causes” and its implications; third, the situation…
Children and adolescents who live without or are at risk of losing parental care for different reasons are more at risk of being exposed to poverty, discrimination and exclusion, which in turn make them more vulnerable to abuse, exploitation and abandonment.
This paper aims to show different organisations, institutions, governments and civil society the reality facing thousands of children in Latin America. This information can be used as a tool for debating and prioritising the issue as well as promoting constructing good practices and public policies that will improve the wellbeing…
This paper is based on "The Latin American Report. The situation of children in Latin America without parental care or at risk of losing it. Contexts, causes and responses," which was prepared using reports from 13 countries in the region. These reports were compiled by SOS Children's Villages, in the countries where the organisation has offices, in order to establish the circumstances of children without parental care or in vulnerable situations. It should be noted that there was limited…
The report documents the baseline study of institutions that provide care and shelter to institutionalized children and adolescents in Guatemala and helped determine the state of children and adolescents that live in those institutions. The following specific objectives were developed in order to achieve the general objective:
- To identify the number of institutions that provide care to institutionalized children and adolescents, the locations of these homes as well as their technical capacity, infrastructure and access to care resources.
- To determine the main…
Seeking Asylum Alone is a two-year comparative study documenting the circumstances and treatment of unaccompanied and separated children who cross borders in search of protection. The study was conducted in three countries—the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia—where the distinctive problems facing child asylum seekers are significant and unresolved. This report concerns the United States. Reports describing the findings in the other countries, and an overall analysis comparing policies and practices in all three countries, will be published later this year (2006).
This report…
Conditional cash transfers are a departure from more traditional approaches to social assistance that represents an innovative and increasingly popular channel for the delivery of social services. Conditional cash transfers provide money to poor families contingent upon certain behavior, usually investments in human capital such as sending children to school or bringing them to health centers on a regular basis. They seek both to address traditional short-term income support objectives, as well as to promote the longer-term accumulation of human capital by serving as a demand-side complement…
Belize has the highest HIV prevalence in Central America and yet, in common with most countries in the region, very little work has been done to understand the social impact of this epidemic on children. In 2004, UNICEF conducted a rapid assessment to fill this critical research gap. The objectives of the assessment were to develop a better understanding of the impact of HIV/AIDS on the children of Belize and to inform national stakeholders so they could agree on appropriate action. The assessment process included a review of existing data relating to HIV/AIDS and children, interviews with…
In recent years, countries in Latin America have engaged in a critical debate on the institutionalization of children and adolescents as a response to family problems, disabilities, financial problems and types of conduct perceived as a threat to society.
The new paradigm established by the Convention on the Rights of the Child with regard to the relations between children and families, society and the state, has shifted the focus of the debate on institutionalization from technical and systems management issues and the effect of institutionalization on children, to a policy and strategic…
This study was commissioned by the Save the Children Alliance initiative “Care and Protection of Separated Children in Emergencies” (CPSC) to investigate the phenomenon of El Salvador’s disappeared children. The fieldwork for the study was undertaken by the author heading a small research team consisting of two research assistants, one of them a former “disappeared” child. Considerable emphasis was placed on the active participation of children (now mostly young adults), their families of origin and foster or adoptive families. A small group of young people (who had also experienced forced…