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Overview
This brief summarizes actions that programme planners and implementers should take to minimize the impact that emergencies have on the lives of young children and their families. It calls upon all relevant stakeholders to invest in evidence-based policies and interventions that have been shown to build resilience and mitigate the harmful effects of emergencies.
When a major disaster strikes in the United States, the President issues a Presidential Disaster Declaration releasing federal disaster relief funds for the “critical services” necessary to restore local communities. One community service not considered eligible for federal relief funds is childcare. But childcare is a necessary condition for getting communities back to normal routines and parents back to work. Redefining childcare as a critical service is not only good for the educational development of young children but makes it possible for the parents of young children to resume their…
Published jointly with UNICEF, this new BCN Working Paper focuses on the role of gatekeeping in strengthening family-based care and reforming alternative care systems. Gatekeeping refers to systematic procedures aimed at ensuring that alternative care for children is used only when necessary, and that the type of care provided is suitable to the individual child. This Working Paper reviews different approaches to gatekeeping in five countries--Brazil, Bulgaria, Indonesia, Moldova, and Rwanda--to consider what has and has not worked, to analyze lessons learned from practice, and to…
This policy brief by Save the Children introduces the background, goals, and guiding principles of the Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children while also explaining why family-based care is a preferred care arrangement over institutions. Furthermore, it suggests policy and practice recommendations to further protect children without appropriate care and strengthen families and communities. Save the Children has been involved at the international level in the development of the Guidelines and at the country level in efforts to ensure use of the Guidelines as a framework for reform.…
It is now estimated that the tsunami, although not the largest in recorded history, has inflicted some of the greatest devastation, claiming more than 170,000 lives and displacing an estimated 1.5 million people (Table 1). As it became clear that a large portion of those most affected were children, many Americans (and would-be parents from other nations) were moved to open their hearts and homes – through adoption – to the boys and girls who seemed to have been orphaned.
In response to the enormous number of inquiries, the U.S. State Department – as well as numerous European governments,…
EveryChild is an international development charity working in over 15 countries around the world with a focus on children separated from their families and communities or in danger of being so. Their agency does this through three different intervention types: Prevention, Protection and Re-integration.
EveryChild believes the separation of children from their families or usual carers in developing countries is seriously undermining attempts to build healthy communities and meet development goals. Articles 7, 8 and 9 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child…
Child rights must be at the centre of all adoptions in Nepal, says this major study on adoption released in Kathmandu by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and Terre des hommes (Tdh). The main conclusion of the 60-page report, ‘Adopting the rights of the child: a study on intercountry adoption and its influence on child protection in Nepal’, is that intercountry adoption should not be allowed to resume without appropriate safeguards being put in place at all levels. Only four out of every 100 children adopted in Nepal are adopted by a Nepali family and many children put…
WHAT: A short paper on the importance of child care provision as a critical service in helping local communities recover post disaster. It gives 4 policy recommendations for protecting and restoring child care infrastructure.
WHO: Policy makers and social and community workers involved in planning for and responding to emergencies.
WHERE: This document is US specific however the learning and recommendations are relevant globally. The types of child care that should be available will depend on cultural norms for…
During emergencies children face unique dangers. Both boys and girls face an increased risk of disease, malnutrition, gender-based violence, exploitation and a wide range of other violations including death and injury. They often become separated from their families and caregivers and have difficulty obtaining food and humanitarian assistance. The emotional impact on children affected by emergencies can be profound, but those who remain in the care of their families and communities are likely to recover more quickly. Schools are often closed or inaccessible during emergencies, leaving…
Children today are increasingly deliberate targets, as well as unintended victims, in armed conflicts around the world. Between 1985 and 1995:
- 2 million children were killed;
- 6 million were left seriously injured or permanently disabled;
- 12 million were left homeless;
- 1 million were orphaned or separated from their parents;
- 10 million suffered from serious psycho-logical trauma as a result of war; and
- 300,000 served as child soldiers.