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The events of 2020—including a global pandemic, a nationwide conversation about systemic racism, and a contentious election—allowed us to immediately put our core values into practice. Bethany made significant programmatic and operational changes within three major categories, which are outlined below and will be explored in detail throughout this report. This report summarizes findings from a mixed-methods case study of innovations and challenges within four Bethany foster care locations in the U.S.: Atlanta, Georgia; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Detroit, Michigan; and Grand Rapids, Michigan…
Abstract
COVID-19 has put child wellbeing at risk, perhaps especially, for children and youth involved in the foster care system. For these children and youth, any stability they may have experienced since entering care has been disrupted and their contact with parents limited. A sudden shift to virtual only contact meant both parents and caregivers were in need of support to navigate these changes. This study reports on the rapid development and implementation of an eLearning and structured practice guide for visitation supervisors to help them facilitate virtual visits…
This brief article from Student Affairs Today highlights some of the lessons learned by student affairs professionals regarding foster care support programs at higher education institutions in the United States in light of the COVID-19 crisis.
Abstract
COVID-19 arrived as a crisis. Its impact has been felt across the Globe and will continue to be for many years to come. Financially, emotionally, practically and psychologically – it has changed many views & forced us to think and behave differently in our everyday life. A massive challenged faced residential child care when lockdown was announced. Fear swept through the house, as the reality of our young people experiencing another challenge gripped us. At Nether Johnstone House, we have an ethos built around opportunity, experiences, relationships and most…
This report from Child's i Foundation provides an overview of the organisation's response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Uganda. Child's i Foundation is taking steps to ensure that families do not have to make the "heartbreaking choice" of placing their child in an orphanage and is also working to ensure that the needs of children in orphanages are being addressed.
These steps include:
- Responding to child protection issues
- Maintaining contact with orphanages and advocating government to ensure that children in institutional care are prioritised
- Keeping…
Managing through COVID-19: the experiences of children’s social care in 15 English local authorities
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, public services are having to rethink how they continue to operate and provide for those most in need of care and support. Amongst the most vulnerable groups, for reasons other than the virus, are children and young people known to children’s service departments. The role and statutory functions of children’s social care (CSC) set out in primary legislation have remained the same during the COVID-19 period1 but it has been necessary to find ways to fulfil these within very changed circumstances.
In the early weeks of March 2020, it was not clear what…
In this webinar hosted by Better Care Network and the Consortium for Street Children, speakers from three NGOs (Safe Society India, JUCONI in Mexico, and Railway Children in Tanzania) presented on and discussed the care implications of COVID-19 and responses to the pandemic on street-affected children, including family reunification, the role informal care has played and how governments have been addressing street-connected children's needs.
This article from UNICEF Cambodia describes how UNICEF and its partners are responding to the needs of children in residential care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Responses include:
- With UNICEF support, the Ministry of Social Affairs immediately banned new admissions of children into any residential care facility to prevent transmission of the infection, and directed all children who needed alternative care to provincial focal points.
- Visits by any external people to orphanages were suspended.
- UNICEF supply team distributed more than 35,000 soaps…
On Monday, January 23, 2017, the Alliance’s Minimum Standards for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action (CPMS) Working Group organized and led the webinar “What have we learned from the child protection response in epidemics during the Ebola crisis?”
Andrew Brooks, UNICEF Regional Child Protection Adviser for West and Central Africa, presented the finding of a recently released report “The Child Protection Response to the Ebola Virus Disease…
Prepared over a period of one year from September 2015 to September 2016, UNICEF, in partnership with relevant agencies and governments, presents feedback and lessons learned from the Child Protection Programme during the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) epidemic response in West Africa from August 2014 to December 2015.
The report examines three affected countries – Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea – to analyse the degree to which the response was successful in addressing the scale and unique nature of the child protection situation that arose due to the epidemic. Key lessons learned and…