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WHAT: A child friendly assessment form for children/young people who are caregivers. The assessment helps them to identify what support services they may need.
WHO: Children and young people who look after others (including child headed households), and social and community workers supporting young caregivers.
WHERE: Global relevance with adaptations to some of the questions. The pictures would also need to be changed to suit the local context.
WHY: A useful tool for engaging…
Children have the right to live in a caring family environment. Governments have a responsibility to develop policies and practices, that support and strengthen families and communities to care appropriately for their children. In the changing world in which children are increasingly affected by HIV, conflict, violence, inequality and migration, the scale of children’s protection and care needs is escalating. Developing appropriate responses has proved challenging. Increased efforts are needed by governments, donors, and humanitarian, religious and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to…
One of the three new programme priorities of the Bernard van Leer Foundation is to help strengthen the care environment of the child. It does this through a stronger focus of its grantmaking on work that (1) supports parents and caregivers who are raising children in environments of stress, (2) helps parents and caregivers in their role of assuring children’s rights and development and (3) addresses the needs of children without parental care.
The importance of the family in a child’s life cannot be overstated as the article on “How poverty separates children and parents” (page 23)…
This issue of Early Childhood Matters has 11 articles:
1. The Challenges of Out of Home Care: Nigel Cantwell Gives suggestions for the best case scenario of out of home care.
2. Young Children in Institutional Care in Europe: Kevin Browne, Catherine Hamilton-Giachritsis, Rebecca Johnson, Shihning Chou Emphasizes the need for reducing reliance on institutional care.
3. The State and Aboriginal children in the child welfare system in Canada 19: Cindy Blackstock, Jordan Ann Alderman Discusses the failures…
The phenomenon described as a “child-headed household” was first noted in the late 1980s in the Rakai district of Uganda. Up until this point it was assumed that ‘there is no such thing as an orphan in Africa’, as children without parents would be easily and naturally looked after within the households of their extended families which traditionally acted as the continent’s social security system - protecting vulnerable community members, caring for the poor and sick and transmitting traditional social values and education.
The recent magnitude of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, particularly in Sub-…
Of an estimated 15 million Kenyan children, approximately 1.7 million are orphans. About one-third of them are barely able to comprehend their loss, having not reached five years of age. 650,000 have lost their parents due to AIDS. Moreover, the number of orphans is projected to grow to 2.5 million by 2010, with 500,000 of these children having lost both parents.
Behind the numbers are courageous efforts by Kenyans around the country to absorb children orphaned or made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS (OVCs) into traditional extended family systems. Grand-mothers, aunts and uncles, among others,…
In almost all armed conflicts, mass population displacements, natural disasters and other crises, a number of children become separated from their families or from other adults responsible for them. These children form one of the most vulnerable groups in these situations, often deprived of care and protection. Most can be reunited with parents, siblings, members of the extended family or other adults whom they know and who are willing to provide for their care.
Action on behalf of unaccompanied and separated children should be guided by principles enshrined in international standards. The…
Millions of children throughout the world are currently in, or in need of, out-of-home care because their parents are unavailable or unable to care for them:
- In the USA there are 600,000 children in the foster-care system alone (CWLA);
- Some 1.5 million children are reported to be in out-of-home care in Central and Eastern Europe and the CIS, including 900,000 in residential facilities (UNICEF);
- In Africa, Asia and Latin America, some 9.5 million children whose parents have both died from HIV/AIDS are looked after by relatives or others…
WHAT: A guide for camp management agencies that provides instruction on the care and protection of all children (under 18), as well as those with specific needs, such as unaccompanied and separated children, child heads of households, children formerly associated with armed forces, and out-of-school and unemployed adolescents and youth.
WHO: Practitioners, program managers and policy makers involved in refugee and/or IDP camp management.
WHERE: Global relevance.
WHY: This guide outlines the…
Farm Orphan Support Trust of Zimbabwe (FOST) undertook this study into child headed households on commercial farms in April/May 2002 with the aim of identifying their problems and needs and planning potential interventions.
The unique nature of farm worker communities makes them particularly vulnerable to the effects of HIV/AIDS. In particular, the lack of traditional safety nets within these communities increases the vulnerability of children, especially orphaned children.
The methodology employed for the study was action research oriented and involved interviewing 17 child headed…