Displaying 21 - 30 of 550
Many children in non-kinship foster care maintain contact with their birth parents, although debate continues about whether or not, or under what circumstances, it is beneficial to the child. In this scoping review the authors analyze the findings of studies conducted over the past two decades that have specifically examined face-to-face contact with birth parents for children in non-kinship foster care, with the goal of…
The objective of this article is to identify those situations where the families of fostered unaccompanied migrant children are made visible in order to favor the incorporation of these families into the pathway planning. The study design is qualitative exploratory. The fieldwork was carried out in Spain and involved working groups with specialized professionals. The results show that the authorities responsible for the foster care completely ignore the families although these are present in the daily life of the unaccompanied children.
The few professionals and resources that include the…
Parental education programs are a key element in achieving family reunification because they help mothers and fathers improve their parenting skills and increase the parent-child relationship. Perceptions of change are examined among children and parents who participated in Spain’s “Caminar en familia” (“Walking family”) program, which was implemented among families served by the Sistema de Protección a la Infancia y a la Adolescencia (System for the Protection of Children and Adolescents).
A qualitative design enabled comprehensively describing the experiences of families in the Spanish…
The European Refugee and Migration Crisis went from very high numbers of daily arrivals and quick transit through the Balkans in 2015 to significantly reduced, but ongoing, arrivals and longer stays in Balkans countries in 2016 and 2017. After the EU–Turkey deal came into place in March 2016, over 18,000 children (more than 40% of all arrivals) from Afghanistan, Iraq or Syria have transited through the Balkans, making it the second most travelled migration route to Europe. Closed borders and limited legal options reinforced “irregular routes”, facilitated by smugglers and traffickers,…
NEW YORK, 14 July 2023 -- At least 289 children are estimated to have died or disappeared this year attempting to cross the perilous Central Mediterranean Sea migration route from North Africa to Europe, according to UNICEF. This equates to nearly eleven children dying or disappearing every week as they search for safety, peace and better opportunities.
Since 2018, UNICEF estimates around 1,500 children have died or gone missing while attempting the Central Mediterranean Sea crossing. This number accounts for 1 in 5 of the 8,274 people who have died or gone missing on…
Family foster care (FFC) is the preferred out-of-home care measure for the protection of children and youth through Europe, in accordance with research findings of its superiority in meeting developmental needs of children and youth. Portugal, however, does not accompany the European trend in the implementation of FFC. Even after changes made to the law, prioritizing FFC, it represents only 2,7% of out-of-home placements. The main goal of this exploratory and descriptive study is to understand the perceptions of Portuguese child protection professionals concerning FFC. 101 participants, from…
In this workshop Family for Every Child members Flüchtlingsrat Niedersachsen (The Refugee Council of Lower Saxony, Germany), Programma Integra (Italy) and METAdrasi (Greece) share their experience around supporting unaccompanied minors, with For Our Children (FoC) in Bulgaria. They share top tips with FoC as they navigate the arrival of unaccompanied minors fleeing the conflict in Ukraine, and find ways to support them.
Eurochild has published two new pieces of analysis to support efforts by the EU and the Ukrainian government to ensure the care of children arriving from Ukraine unaccompanied, separated from their families or who are placed in alternative care.
Building on Eurochild’s DataCare project with UNICEF ECARO, Eurochild is supporting UNICEF’s emergency response work to the invasion of Ukraine to support coordination efforts with the Ukrainian Ministry of Social Policy, the EU and Member…
Institutionalization is a protection measure when children are in situations that put their physical and psychological integrity at risk, which implies the separation of their parents and family, having a placement in an institution, being in the protection of the State. The causes of institutionalization are multiple and the impact it causes is reflected in different areas such as the development of the child in general, such as mental, psychic structuring, health, and nutrition. Psychologically, children present alterations in their cognitive, emotional, sexual, and social domains with a…
Children need stable and safe relationships with caring adults to thrive, and such relationships are far more likely to be created in a family environment. Those growing up in alternative care have very often experienced significant trauma before being placed in care. Residential care, in particular, can expose them to all the risks associated with social exclusion if it is not equipped to give them the tailored support they need.
That is why it is important to know the proportion of children placed in residential care compared to those in placed in formal family-based care. This would…