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Residential institutional care has long-term negative consequences for children’s physical, psychological and emotional well-being. Yet some parents are driven by economic, social and cultural pressures to place their children in institutions. In 2010, following national and international outcry over the poor conditions in children’s homes across the country, the Government of Bulgaria adopted the Vision for Deinstitutionalization of Children in Bulgaria. This five-year national strategy sought to end children’s institutionalization and move towards a more family-centric system of care.
To…
People with disabilities have the right to live in the community, according to Article 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. However, more than a decade after the adoption of the CRPD by the UN and nearly global ratification, children with disabilities continue to be placed in institutions in every region of the world. Worse still, low-middle income countries that have never had systems of institutionalization have started to build them.
In 2017, the CRPD Committee adopted general comment No. 5 on Article 19 on living independently and being included in the…
Abstract
The 2010s have witnessed increasing political and public concern over child and family-related issues in Russia, with child welfare and family policy being elevated to the top of the state’s political agenda. The Russian conservative government has prioritised the protection of traditional family values and family as the mainstay of Russian society and thereupon introduced major policy and welfare reform programmes, one of which works towards deinstitutionalising the country’s entire child welfare system. Building upon the idea of every child’s right to a family, this…
An estimated eight million children still live in institutions across the world. Deinstitutionalisation involves strengthening and developing services to prevent children being separated from families. It involves closing down institutions; including children in society and in their communities; and giving them their right to a family. This film from Lumos is about the people who know that there is an alternative to institutional care, and who are working hard to make it happen. These are their stories, in their own words.
The video highlights work to transition institutions in…
Abstract
This article examines how Russian SOS Villages are undergoing foster reform, which prescribes a transition from institutional care for children deprived of parental care to family care model. The article analyses the problems and transformations experienced by SOS Villages, outlining the aims, instruments, and priorities of the reform. Empirically, the article is based on qualitative investigation of two Russian SOS Villages. Officially, SOS villages have the status of non-state children’s homes. However, they were originally conceptualised as a means to implement family care by…
Abstract
In recent years in Bulgaria the type of institutional care for children at risk is changing giving priority to family and close to family environment. The will to implement this process of all involved responsible agencies, institutions and non-governmental organizations has found expression in a number of regulations, strategic and program documents, as well as innovative and successful practices. Economic, political and social changes that accompany the transition has led to new problems and exacerbated existing problems. Current study makes analyses of the national strategy for…
According to this report from Lumos, in 2010 there were more than 6,700 children living in institutions in Bulgaria. This rate was higher than the international average. In 2009, 3,000 children in Bulgaria were admitted into institutions. Lumos reports that conditions were particularly poor in disability institutions and mortality rates were unusually high.
In 2010 Bulgaria launched many reforms in order to lower the number of children entering and living in institutions. The reforms involved strengthening social services, foster care development programs, and…
Este evento paralelo del Consejo de Derechos Humanos fue patronicinado por las Misiones Permanentes de Kenya, Portugal, Uruguay y Vietnam, African Child Policy Forum, ATD 4th World, Better Care Network, CELCIS, Family for Every Child, For Our Children Foundation, Hope and Homes for Children, International Federation of Social Workers, International Foster Care Organisation, International Social Service, RELAF, Save the Children, SOS Children’s Villages International y UNICEF. El evento paralelo el evento se llevó a cabo el 22 de septiembre 2015 y asistieron más de 40…
This Human Rights Council Side event was co-sponsored by Permanent Missions of Kenya, Portugal, Uruguay and Viet Nam, African Child Policy Forum, ATD 4th World, Better Care Network, CELCIS, Family for Every Child, For Our Children Foundation, Hope and Homes for Children, International Federation of Social Workers, International Foster Care Organisation, International Social Service, RELAF, Save the Children, SOS Children’s Villages International and UNICEF. The side event was held on 22 September 2015 and was attended by over 40 participants from different Missions including USA, Canada,…
This Compendium of promising practices to ensure that children under the age of three grow up in a safe and supportive family environment is a compilation of the most encouraging initiatives in the area of prevention of child abandonment and relinquishment that have been implemented and tested in the region. UNICEF hopes that it will serve as a valuable tool for CEE/CIS countries and help accelerate national reform processes by adopting the most promising strategies, concepts and practices.
The Compendium transmits the clear message that there is no single unique formula. However, all over…