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The context:
Numerous studies have highlighted that in Europe people with care experience are amongst the most socially excluded groups and are at greater risk of poor outcomes in education, health, employment, criminality, mental health and social functioning in general as compared to the wider population.
Leaving the formal alternative care system is an important phase for both young people and the service providers responsible for their care and development. All the efforts and investments made throughout the child’s alternative care path risk being rendered futile if the preparation…
The Opening Doors 2018 country factsheets provide an update about the progress with the transition from institutional to family- and community-based care (also known as deinstitutionalisation). The new generation of country snapshots covers 12 EU Member States, 2 EU pre-accession and 2 EU neighbouring countries. This factsheet highlights the developments and challenges still ahead in Latvia and offers key recommendations to the EU and the national government to ensure that children are cared for in family-based settings.
Abstract
Throughout Eastern Europe, the attempts to carry out successful deinstitutionalisation (DI) have been hampered by the legacy of Soviet-era practices of care. In Latvia, it is present in the form of residential schools for children with special needs which continue to host a large proportion of children with disabilities. In order to monitor the progress that has been made since ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities a nationwide evaluation of accessibility of employment and education was carried out. Using the data from this work, we argue that due…
The 2017 country factsheets provide an update on the status of child protection and care reforms from 16 European countries that are the focus of Opening Doors for Europe’s Children campaign in Phase II. The latest compilation of data identifies key achievements and gaps towards DI reforms in each participating country across member states, pre-accession countries and countries within the EU neighbourhood. The evidence focuses on policies that regulate deinstitutionalisation and prevention of child abandonment; engagement of civil society; existing know-hows;…
The reforms undertaken during the transition to a market economy have had an uneven and divergent social impact on the countries within the Eastern Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region. It is now recognized by governments in many parts of the region that the policy of using institutional care for children with welfare needs is both ineffective and expensive. Despite reforms, the quality of care within institutions and in the new community- based services is still inconsistent and in many cases does not meet the requirements of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The…
One of the legacies of the command economy in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union (Europe and Central Asia or ECA region) is a social protection system for vulnerable individuals which focuses heavily on institutional care. Universal social protection was provided to families in the form of guaranteed jobs and old-age pensions, as well as child allowances and benefits in kind such as housing, education, and health care. If an individual needed help beyond this level of universal support, an institutional placement was offered where available. Families, in turn were…