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This joint memo was issued by a group of European organizations to clearly state their belief that the draft language on community living in the proposed EU Structural Funds Regulations should be amended to enhance the effect and to better advance the rights of children, persons with disabilities, and older people. The memo highlights the need to clarify and improve the text, and why this is necessary in order to uphold the international legal obligations of the EU to promote the right to community living, particularly for children, persons with disabilities, and older people.
The Common European Guidelines on the Transition from Institutional to Community-based Care (‘the Guidelines’) provide practical advice about how to make a sustained transition from institutional care to family-based and community-based alternatives for individuals (including children) currently living in institutions and those living in the community, often without adequate support.
The Guidelines are based on European and international best practice and have been developed in consultation with key European networks representing children, people with disabilities, mental health…
The manual, What Works in Tackling Child Abuse and Neglect?, is the main outcome of the European Commission Daphne III programme, involving regional exchanges and research to bring together knowledge on what works in tackling child abuse. Five country reports (Germany, Hungary, Portugal, Sweden, and the Netherlands) were developed reviewing research findings and a comprehensive report compiled about strategies, measurements, and management of tackling the whole range of child abuse and neglect, from prevention to treatment. A study compiling practice-based knowledge on tackling…
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…
In 2009 Eurochild carried out a survey of the situation of children in alternative care in Europe through its member organisations. The survey requested information on the numbers of children in alternative care including residential, community and family-based care; the profiles of children in care; the outcomes for children in care; the institutional framework and availability of data; and the existence of standards and support for children‘s participation. 30 European countries participated, including the 4 nations of the UK and Moldova. The survey was not intended as a scientifically…
Following on from our Focus Report on the Right of Children with Disabilities to Live in the Community, published in December 2006, this issue includes three articles relevant to questions of care for disabled children around the world:
Children and Young People With Disabilities in Residential Institutions in Greece - By Prof. John Tsiantis, APHCA
Prof. John Tsiantis points out that while within the Greek mental health system there have been successful moves towards developing community-based alternatives to institutional care there has been little improvement in the…
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…