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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…
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.
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…
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…
“They would always say they were coming back, but they never came back.”
These are the words of Sinet Chan in her letter to the Australian government. As a child, Chan spent years in a Cambodian orphanage after losing both of her parents to HIV. Describing her experiences during her formative years there, Chan recounted being forced to entertain the constant stream of visitors from abroad by singing songs and playing games with them in order to…
Under the Family First Prevention Services Act, a law passed by Congress that took effect in New York in late September, federal funding for congregate care has been dramatically reduced. The law referred to commonly as “Family First” reflects the growing consensus that children thrive in family homes, not institutions, and that lengthy stays in residential programs without specific treatment goals can cause lasting harm.
"The process of deinstitutionalization in Latvia is moving forward," says this article from Latvian Public Broadcasting. "The number of children in institutions has decreased three times over the past decade, the Ministry of Welfare (LM) told Latvian Radio May 12. This process means that in time inclusive services will be available in Latvia, and children as well as adults with functional disabilities will not have to live in institutions."
According to this article from the Global Sisters Report, "Catholic sisters in three African nations — Uganda, Zambia and Kenya — are leading the way in creating new models for caring for children. Their efforts are the core of the recent launch of Catholic Care for Children International (CCCI) under the auspices of the International Union of Superiors General (UISG) — one of many faith groups leading policy reform and family-based alternatives to institutional care."
"The Rome-based International Union of Superiors General launched Catholic Care for Children International online Oct. 2, inviting all women's and men's religious orders to join the global initiative to end or reduce recourse to institutionalized child care and instead get children into safe and loving family- or community-based care," says this article from Global Sisters Report. "A key moment underpinning the new sister-led initiative was a historic move by the U.N. General Assembly last December," the article continues. "On the 30th anniversary of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the…