Displaying 21 - 30 of 32
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. The Recommendations and Action Plan highlight the urgency of integrating services for children and families at risk, making services accessible at a low threshold, ensuring timely interventions and longer…
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…
This report assesses how far the SCEP Statement of Good Practice and relevant international obligations are met in 11 countries of Central Europe and the Baltic States, in relation to specific issues: the definition of a “separated child”, access to the territory, identification, the appointment of a guardian or adviser, registration and documentation, age assessment, freedom from detention, the right to participate, family tracing and contact, family reunification in a European country, interim care, health, education and training, the refugee determination process and durable or long-term…
Latvia's parliament on Thursday passed new amendments to the Law on the Protection of the Children Rights, under which American citizens would no longer be able to adopt Latvian children, member of parliament Artuss Kaimins told Sputnik on Thursday.
The bill, banning intercountry adoption …
"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."
According to this article, the Latvian government is seeking to raise the minimum age at which children living in institutions in the country can be sent abroad to stay with a "host family" in the US. The article reports that, currently, children under the age of seven have been sent abroad in these host programs. The Welfare Ministry's proposed law would raise the minimum age to twelve. "The ministry also wants to introduce a norm that explicitly states foreigners taking care of children abroad would not be prioritized when decisions concerning adoption are made," says the article…
The Parliament of Latvia has issued a formal complaint to the UK House of Commons, claiming that children of Latvian descent are being “illegally and forcibly adopted by British families,” says the article. The complaint was issued in light of a recent case of a six year-old Latvian girl who was removed from her mother’s care. The girl’s mother believes that her daughter was taken away unnecessarily and that decisions about her daughter’s placement have been made without her. According to the article, other Eastern European countries have made similar complaints regarding British adoption…
To facilitate Barnahus and similar setups to hear about how children experience their service, PROMISE has developed a Child Participation Tool. The tool focuses on the child’s experience of Barnahus, including the travel to Barnahus, their experience in Barnahus, coming home from Barnahus and potential follow up or mid-to-long term treatment in Barnahus or by a mobile Barnahus team.
Join this webinar to walk through the tool with the author Olivia Lind Haldorsson, and to discuss with European colleagues about approaches and considerations for soliciting children’s views on their…
This webinar is being organized as part of the regional project "Building Relationships through Innovative Development of Gender-Based Violence Awareness in Europe - BRIDGE" which has the aim to strengthen the statutory response to gender-based violence (GBV) affecting children and youth on the move in EU countries.
The BRIDGE project is supported by the European Union’s Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme (2014-2020) and is implemented in Belgium, Greece, Hungary, Malta and Romania.A series of webinars are being organized as part of the BRIDGE project to discuss issues of…