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This statement from Lumos outlines the organization's recommendations to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development regarding the institutionalization of children. The statement includes some background information on the harmful effects of institutionalization on children and highlights the existing "commitment to ending the institutionalisation of children inside the EU." The statement includes three recommendations from Lumos:
1. Ensure that the EBRD does not fund institutions for children
2. Include children in institutions as a target group for the EBRD’s…
At a US House of Representatives Hearing on Migrant Family Separation Policy, Jack P. Shonkoff, M.D. (Director of the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University) gave testimony on the impacts of family separation on children, highlighting the "strong scientific consensus supported by decades of peer-reviewed research" that "sudden, forcible separation of children from their parents is deeply traumatic for both the child and the parent," triggering "a massive biological stress response." Shonkoff's testimony outlines two core scientific concepts:
- A strong…
This news article from the BBC is about a small orphan village south of Moscow, which has been experimenting with what the founders think may be a novel solution to support both foster children and the families who take them in.
Jo Boyden, professor of international development at Oxford University and director of its Young Lives study, has selected five books that challenge Western assumptions and beliefs about child-rearing and how children “should” be raised. The books call attention to the ways in which culture and context impact views on children and child-rearing, which in turn affects children’s development and the human beings they become. The piece features an interview with Boyden, who describes the books and the subjects they cover. The books focus on separation, attachment, loss, education, and much more…
Romania’s Abandoned Children: Deprivation, Brain Development and the Struggle for Recovery, by Charles A. Nelson, Nathan A. Fox and Charles H. Zeanah
This article reviews a new book by Charles A. Nelson, Nathan A. Fox and Charles H. Zeanah who conducted seminal studies in Romania on children who were institutionalised, comparing their developmental and well-being outcomes to children who were placed in foster care or adoptive families. The study found that placing children in foster care, even relatively late in infancy (the average age was 22 months), brought benefits in…
In this article for Prism Magazine, a publication of Evangelicals for Social Action, the authors ask challenging questions about the active role played by the Western Church "not only in funding orphanages where they may not be needed but also encouraging "orphanage tourism" disguised in the form of short-term mission trips." They review the evidence from global research that has demonstrated the adverse impacts of residential care on the development of children and their protection rights, and ask some challenging questions: "Why are orphanages unacceptable…
This new radio report from National Public Radio (NPR) challenges some of the misconceptions about fostering, including that people foster for the money or that foster parents “must be saints to take in other people’s children”. Two main speakers, a foster parent for over 15 years to more than 40 children, and a Professor at the University of Richmond School of Law share their insight and experiences about fostering in the US context.
The two speakers highlight through personal anecdotes the many positive impacts foster parents and families can leave on…
Marking the recent 21st Day of the African Child, the Consortium for Street Children (CSC), welcomed the choice of this year’s theme ‘All together for urgent actions in favour of street children’. In honor of this focus, the Consortium released a joint statement to the African Committee on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. The consortium noted it is vital that urgent action is taken to build on recent successes so that street children are not confined to the margins of relevant policy discussions again. CSC notes the urgent need for multi-stakeholder engagement and the…
The February IREX/Assistance to Russian Orphans (ARO) Program Newsletter provides information on the many recent activities and seminars. ARO (Assistance to Russian Orphans) expert consultants led seminars and trainings on child psychology, family intervention, emergency psychological assistance to children by telephone, support services for foster families, and early intervention for children between the ages of 0-4 for specialists in Barnaul, Komsomol'sk-na-Amure, Novosibirsk, and Tambov in February.
The ARO Team provided valuable administrative training to ARO partner…
The number of care services and institutions in The Gambia which could respond to the needs of children on the move where they are is extremely limited and underresourced. Most often, care arrangements are made informally in the communities. Child migrants identified are often handed over to the police. Access to food and accommodation services also poses significant challenges.
Host families serve as a solution for the temporary placement of children and young migrants while solutions are being sought for their reintegration in their families and communities of origin.