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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;…
This Country Fact Sheet from Latvia reports that there are currently 1,429 children in Latvia living in institutional care facilities. In 2015, the Cabinet of Ministers adopted Regulation 1036 with the hopes of improving the foster care system.
In preparation for the Expert Meeting on Alternative Care and Family Support in the Baltic Sea Region - held in Tallinn, Estonia in May 2015 - the Children’s Unit in cooperation with the Expert Group for Cooperation on Children at Risk conducted a mapping of family support and alternative care services in the Baltic Sea Region Member States. The objective of this mapping was to analyse the situation, assess the achievements since the 2005 Ministerial Forum and to identify relevant opportunities and challenges for the future.
This report documents, assesses, and analyses the state of…
Government representatives, experts and professionals from the Baltic Sea Region including Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, the Russian Federation, Sweden and wider Europe gathered at a two-day expert meeting in Tallinn, Estonia and, together, endorsed a set of recommendations and action plan on alternative care and family support on 6 May 2015. This report provides an overview of the meeting and the presentations and discussions that took place on the topics of regional cooperation on alternative care, promoting quality care for children in the…
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…
"The process of deinstitutionalization in Latvia is moving forward," says this article from Latvian Public Broadcasting. "The number of children in institutions has decreased three times over the past decade, the Ministry of Welfare (LM) told Latvian Radio May 12. This process means that in time inclusive services will be available in Latvia, and children as well as adults with functional disabilities will not have to live in institutions."