Adopted and opened for signature, ratification and accession by the United Nations General Assembly resolution 44/25 of 20 November 1989 - CLICK for the full text in the six UN languages > http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/crc.htm
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Children and young people incare – Discover your rights! is a NEW child-friendly information booklet addressed to children and young people in alternative care. It provides answers to all the questions that children and young people could have.
Through comics, stories and informative texts, children and young people in
care can learn about their rights, as set forth by the United Nations
Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Council of Europe recommendation
Rec(2005)5 on the rights of children living in residential institutions and the
Quality4Children Standards for Out-of-Home Child Care in Europe. They can
also learn how to exercise these rights and take on an active role in their
own care process, including ways to improve it.
~~~~~~~ CLICK to see the booklet in English + other languages soon! ~~~~~~~
Please click to read the new European Union report from the ad-hoc expert group on deinstitutionalization – this report deals with all forms of institutional care for both adults and children. The report was an initiative from Vladimir Špidla, EU Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, and it is likely to lead to future EU action in this field.
The work of the Ad Hoc Expert Group on the Transition from Institutional to Community-based Care moves one step beyond the analysis offered by recent research studies funded by the European Commission. It offers not only rationale for change but also advice on how to achieve it (and also what to avoid), distilled from the experience acquired in those EU Member States where such reforms have already been carried out. The Report provides an analysis of key challenges, followed by a set of Common Basic Principles and concrete recommendations to Member States and the European Commission.
IFCO MEMBERS MAY LOG IN AND COMMENT ON THE REPORT ON THIS IFCO WEB SITE.
You may also click to watch Commissioner Špidla's short speech delivered last week by video to the Eurochild Annual Conference in Cyprus http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXcPOgwxhRk (in English).
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Amid extremely high emotions, the Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd
apologised to the thousands of British orphans and migrant children who were
shipped to the colony with the promise of a better life, only to suffer
years of abuse in institutions.
In an historic speech in Canberra on Monday morning, witnessed in person by at
least 40 of the 7,000 child migrants from Britain sent to Australia from the
1920s-1970s, Mr Rudd extended his condolences on behalf of the nation for
the “ugly chapter” in Australia’s history which left thousands of people
without their families and scarred from years of emotional, physical and
sexual abuse at the hands of their carers.
“We come together today to offer our nation's apology. To say to you, the
Forgotten Australians, and those who were sent to our shores as children
without their consent, that we are sorry," Mr Rudd said.
"Sorry that as children you were taken from your families and placed in
institutions where so often you were abused. Sorry for the physical
suffering, the emotional starvation and the cold absence of love, of
tenderness, of care.
> CLICK HERE > http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article6918205.ece FOR THE REST OF THIS STORY + COMMENTS + A TV NEWS VIDEO >>>> PLUS > http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/11/16/2744182.htm
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The 6th Annual Conference of Eurochild will take place in Cyprus from 11-14 November. During the last year Eurochild developed a new Thematic Working Group to work on the issues of Children in Alternative Care throughout Europe. Recently IFCO President Chris Gardiner & former IFCO Youth Committee Chair Emmanuel Sherwin have been elected as Co-Chairs of this new Thematic Working Group.
The Cyprus conference will have a busy agenda - you may view the programme & plenary and workshop abstracts by clicking the link below:
On pages 18 & 19 you may read the abstract of the important workshop being presented by IFCO Youth Committe Chair, Jean Kennedy from Ireland and IFCO Youth members Kersti Kukk from Estonia and Hava Ryustem from Bulgaria.
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CONFERENCE DECLARATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS: We, the 419 delegates from 45 countries attending the First International Conference in Africa on Family Based Care for Children convening in Nairobi, Kenya from 28 to 30 September, 2009 and bringing together a cross section of African and international professionals and actors, as well as, caregivers, governments, civil society, the academia and funders; Recognizing the right of children to a family, the family as the best institution to raise children, the growing numbers of children in Africa in need of family based care due to the devastating impact of poverty, HIV/AIDS, conflicts and family disintegration; <CLICK THE HEADLINE ABOVE FOR MORE>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
These definitions are an attempt to clarify some of the ambiguities
and uncertainties within the field of child protection and alternative
care. It is recognized that organizations and professions may
define terms differently, and that definitions change over time. The
list here does not claim to be definitive or exhaustive, and is open to
debate. Please contact protection@savethechildren.org.uk for suggested changes and/or additions to the list.
© Save the Children UK
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BULGARIA - The Bulgarian National Foster Care Conference will be held from 23-25 October in Plovdiv. Foster families and children together with Ministry and local officials, social workers, NGOs and other people concerned with the development of foster care in Bulgaria will attend from all over the country. IFCO's President, Chris Gardiner, will speak at the opening ceremony and also run a workshop. IFCO's Youth Committee Chair, Jean Kennedy, will coordinate the Youth Programme together with youth facilitators Bernard Grima from Malta and Hava Rustem from Bulgaria who are IFCO Youth members and also actively involved with www.power4youth.eu
The Bulgarian Conference has been organised by the "For our Children Foundation" http://www.detebg.org/?lid=2 a Bulgarian NGO which has been piloting and developing foster care in the country for several years. "For Our Children's" Director is IFCO Board member Ivanka (Vanya) Shalapotova.
UPDATE - A VERY SUCCESSFUL CONFERENCE FOR ADULTS, YOUNG PEOPLE & CHILDREN. PLUS A BIG WELCOME TO THE NEW BULGARIAN NATIONAL FOSTER CARE ASSOCIATION - IFCO's NEWEST MEMBER!
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On the 19 October the latest IFCO monthly Enewsletter for members was sent out by email - to read the CONTENTS please click the headline above.
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This information was sent by IFCO Board member Elayn Sammon who lives & works in CAMBODIA >>> The Ministry of Social Affairs Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation will hold a two day national workshop on 27 & 28 October on ‘Child Protection in the Community’.
This initiative by the Cambodian government is a further step towards implementation of their 2006 Policy on Alternative Care which unequivocally recognises the importance of family: “…to promote…the family as the best environment for the child and to empower parents to care for their children to avoid placement in residential care.”
>>>FOR A LONGER VERSION PLEASE CLICK THE HEADLINE ABOVE<<<
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