Hope and Homes for Children Romania Hope and Homes for Children Romania

Hope and Homes for Children Romania


HOPE AND HOMES FOR CHILDREN ROMANIA

1. CLOSING DOWN INSTITUTIONS

2. DEVELOPING FAMILY BASED SERVICES

3. OTHER TYPES OF PROGRAMMES:

QUALITYASSURANCE PROGRAMME

TRAINING PROGRAMMES AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE

PUBLICATIONS

PR & ADVOCACY FOR CHILDREN’S RIGHTS

CONVENTION OF COOPERATION ON DI

PREVENTION PROGRAMME

The move must be the last one for the child, as well as a positive one;

The groups of siblings will be kept or reunited; Additional support for the children with special

needs; Closing institutions is not a purpose in itself; The children’s opportunity to show their

potential; Commitment to real partnership

Principles in planning the DI process


Vision

I. DI – a dynamic process

II. DI – a contextualized approach

III. DI – child focused


Comparative analyses proving the impact upon children:

• child’s feeding ability• motion• capacity of clothing• personal hygiene• organisation of

activities• communication• cognitive area

• social area

• spare time

• identity issues

• family relationships

• connection with other people


IDENTIFIED PROBLEMS:

• Lack of cooperation

• Diffuse responsibility – no action for child care

• Confusing procedures

• Inappropriate use of resources

7 Hope and Homes for Children Romania

Preparing the Transfer of Children

from Institutions


The child’s opinion

• Did this child benefit from all the resources and information that could help him/her make a decision for himself/herself?

• Did he/she have enough time to examine all the possible alternatives?


Components of the training programme

• Preparing the child

• Preparing the staff

• Preparing the context of the placement


Preparing the child• It is essential that we teach the child to trust

adults

• Initiating a recuperation programme for some delays, especially those regarding independent living skills

• Familiarising the child with one or more forms of placement


Preparing the context

• The social environment of the child: If the child’s family, the schools, health department, local authorities, local NGOs are involved, they will help the child in the process of adaptation

• Members of staff should work with the children on issues relating to

their past,

their present and

their future


Life Story Book• It is a very useful tool to help the child in the

process of movement, as well as during the period of adjustment to the new placement

• Contains the important events in the life of the child

• It is important that the significant events in the life of the child are not lost once the movement takes place

• Has as fundamental aim the development of self-identity and accepting their own person as a valuable, respectable human being


The Parameters of the preparation process

• The process is individually designed for each child

• The child is an active part in each stage of the process, being encouraged to express their opinion

14

• The preparation is based on different activities

• Needs a variable period of time, from minimum a month up to a few months, usually being related to the age of the child

• Many people are involved, including the child’s family


3. MOVING THE CHILD


Who accompanies the child? What kind of things can he take with

him/her? Is the child aware of the date of moving? Has the child visited the new location? Is the family routine still kept in the new

placement?


A. Services preventing the separation of children

from their families

• Day Centres

•Mother and Baby Units

• Emergency Reception Centres and/or Emergency Foster Care;


• Social workers in paediatric wards

•Material support

•Counseling Centers


• Respite Care

•Simple placement


B. Reintegrations in natural or extended families

o When reintegration possibilities are identified for children in institutions, those opportunities need to be exploited;

o Reintegrations could be supported by sets of care measures for the child and the family: day centres, respite care units, counselling services and material support;


C. Care services by means of substitute families

• Foster care for typical children and children with special needs;

• Adoption


D. Family-type residential care

• For some children, care should be ensured in small family homes;


Using the range of services

• Based on complex evaluations;

•Offering care packages –to meet the individual needs of individual children;

• Choosing the best placement from a variety of available services;


Using the range of services

• Establishing partnerships with the children’s families, (in reintegration cases, families could initially mistrust the possibilities of taking responsibility for providing for the children); in these situations, the families will receive support, will be involved in planning the support services, will benefit from real monitoring;

• Periodically, each case should be reevaluated; as a result, the contents of the care packages could undergo modifications.

Challenges after DI• Absence of quality services for children’s

individualised needs, such as services for mentally challenged children

• Lack of inter-ministerial cooperation on childcare strategy

• The paediatric sections and the maternity wards might become the new baby-homes

• Legislation – too quick for real action on the ground

• A need for better quality middle management of social services

STEPS TO DE-INSTITUTIONALISATION

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

3

2

1 Raising awareness

Country/regional level analysis

Design services

Planning transfer of resources

Preparing & moving children

Preparing & moving staff

Logistics

Monitoring & evaluation

Managing the process

Analysis at institution level

Documents

Hope and Homes for Children Romania Hope and Homes for Children Romania