Displaying 1 - 8 of 8
ABSTRACT
The study consisted of a comparative follow-up study with a pretest-posttest design which explored the association between baseline child, family, and care characteristics and the psychosocial development of 121 schoolaged Dutch children (M age = 8.78 years; SD = 2.34 years; 47% female; 59% Caucasian) during their first year of placement in foster care (FC), family-style group care (FGC), and residential care (RC). Potential baseline characteristics were collected from both literature data and pretest data, and measured with standardized questionnaires and case file information.…
ABSTRACT
In many European countries during the last years, there has been a broad public debate on violence against children in institutions. In this context, professionals are required to deal with the risk of violent assaults against children by their colleagues. In our paper, we aim to discuss professional’s struggle to find words to talk about perceptions of violence by their colleagues in residential care.
The article is based on a broader qualitative research project from Germany which analyzes the circumstances of a case of systematic violence by professionals in residential care…
Abstract
Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are negative childhood events occurring in a child’s family or social environment, that may cause harm or distress. Children with intellectual disabilities (ID) and their families are underrepresented in international ACEs research, while current insights can also contribute to the improvement of their health and well-being. Deficiencies in intellectual and adaptive functioning and living circumstances can increase their vulnerability to adversities. In the present exploratory study 69 case-files of children referred to a Dutch national center…
Institutions are often referred to as ‘orphanages’, but the term is misleading: in reality, the broad majority of children in institutions in Europe still have one or even both parents alive. For many, separation from the birth family could have been prevented with a timely provision of assistance and support. For others, a nurturing environment could be found in the enlarged family, a foster family or a family-like setting.
This briefing paper by Eurochild and Hope and Homes for Children seeks to address some of the key…
This paper by Eurochild and Hopes and Homes for Children aims to raise awareness on the perverse effects of institutionalisation on children and it calls for comprehensive system reforms, starting with a transition towards family and community-based care. The UN Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children clearly speak in favour of such evolution: “where large residential care facilities (institutions) remain, alternatives should be developed in the context of an overall de-institutionalisation strategy, with precise goals…
Article 7 of the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC) states that every child has “the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents.” When a child is abandoned, this right is violated. Infants and young children are those most at risk of being abandoned There is a distinct lack of research in understanding the extent, causes, and consequences of child abandonment. Such studies are essential in order to develop effective prevention programs and strategies aimed at protecting children most vulnerable in the European society.
This comprehensive manual provides an overview of…
This article discusses the use of institutional care for children in Europe and shows that it remains common place despite the evidence of harm for children, including attachment disorder and developmental delay. The authors review the use of alternatives to institutional care and argue that children less than 3 years old, with or without disability, should not be placed in residential care without a parent and that when institutions are used as an emergency measure, the child should be moved into a foster family as soon as possible.
British Medical Journal VOLUME 332 25 FEBRUARY 2006…
ECCL considers that institutions have no place in modern European societies. They strongly oppose the notion that some children will always need institutional care. While many children with disabilities will need a range of professional support services throughout their lives, ECCL believes there is no justification for providing such services in an isolated or segregated environment, whatever the nature of the child’s disability. All of the services they need can be provided in the family home, foster care or small community homes.
If governments introduce a policy of maintaining…