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The Opening Doors 2018 country factsheets provide an update about the progress with the transition from institutional to family- and community-based care (also known as deinstitutionalisation). The new generation of country snapshots covers 12 EU Member States, 2 EU pre-accession and 2 EU neighbouring countries. This factsheet highlights the developments and challenges still ahead in Belgium and offers key recommendations to the EU and the national government to ensure that children are cared for in family-based settings.
Abstract
Continuity is seen as an important aim for the quality of youth-care services. However, views on continuity are predominantly guided by experts, without much attention to user perspectives. This paper focuses on youngsters’ experienced continuity in relation to youth-care services. Twenty-five youngsters, who were in residential care or reached by low-threshold youth services, were interviewed about their experiences in and out of care. In thematically exploring the biographical narratives for important experiences of continuity, three major themes emerged: (i) the need for…
Abstract
Unaccompanied refugee minors have been widely recognized as a group of “vulnerable” children and adolescents, in need of special care and reception structures. Equally, in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, their specific needs and related rights are stipulated, urging receiving states to ensure unaccompanied children's needs on adequate care services. Yet, the ‘specific care and reception structures’ that many Western states have created for this growing group of unaccompanied minors are often largely separated from mainstream services within children and youth care,…
Abstract
The perspective of parents whose children are in residential care, has received only minor attention in the literature, despite evidence pointing out the value of parental involvement in care delivery for their child. Drawing upon in‐depth interviews with 12 parents of adolescent girls with multiple and complex needs in residential child welfare, this exploratory study describes parents' own needs and preferences with regard to care delivery. Parents wish: (a) to have a true partnership between parents and professionals (involvement), (b) to feel respected by professionals (…
Abstract
In residential youth care, a positive living group climate is one of the main pillars for having a child grow up and develop optimally. Despite its importance, the development of a positive living group climate seems to be “under pressure,” due to recent evolutions in residential youth care all over the world. This article describes what could be learned from a project focused on monitoring the living group climate in a residential youth care service in Flanders, Belgium. The objectives were (a) to investigate the implications of this project specifically aimed at improving the…
From Abstract: Improving continuity of care is an important objective of various interventions and innovative programs for youngsters in vulnerable situations. Yet, the definition and conceptualization of continuity of youth care remains unclear, as well as important benefits and pitfalls regarding its implementation. Therefore, this study provides a systematic review of the literature, focusing on the conceptualization and evaluation of continuity. Database searches revealed 28 studies that focus on youth care interventions aimed at improving continuity of care. Selected studies were…
This Country Fact Sheet from Belgium contains short facts on care and institutionalization in Belgium. Institutional care is the primary form of care for children in Belgium without parental support. Currently, there is no deinstitutionalization strategy in place.
As of 2013, there were over 5,000 children in institutional care in the French community of Belgium. There were over 7,000 children in institutional care in the Flanders community of Belgium as of 2015. Both had a high proportion of children with disabilities in institutional care.