Ingrid Sindi

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Associate professor of Social Work at Tallinn University

Trauma-informed care (TIC) is a relatively new topic in the Estonian child protection system, but it has become the particular focus of substitute care. The Estonian child protection system focuses on protecting children from maltreatment, and neglects the adult carers’ right to adequate information about the child’s trauma experience. This makes t...

This article presents empirical findings about children’s experiences in the closed childcare institution service (CCIS) in Estonia and the assistance children receive from their own perspectives and those of parents and practitioners. The study draws on the lived experiences of 12 children/young people, four parents, and 26 practitioners working w...

Digitehnoloogiatel on Eesti perede igapäevaelus täita keskne roll. Digivahendeid peetakse lapsi arendavateks ning vanemale puhkepause võimaldavateks, kuid nii lapsed kui ka vanemad muretsevad nende potentsiaalse kahjuliku mõju pärast. Reaalajas geopositsioneeringut võimaldavad rakendused pakuvad turvatunnet ja meelerahu nii lastele kui ka vanemate...

According to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, children have the right to voice their opinions and participate in decision-making in matters affecting their lives. Furthermore, professionals working with children have the responsibility to always make the best interests of the child the priority when contemplating decisions...

In this seminar, CIRIC (Centre for Advanced Research on Integrity, Rights and Inclusion of the Child) team presents their research on child participation based on the book Professional Practice in Child Protection and the Child’s Right to Participate. Current research literature documents across countries, how either the voice of the child is not...

This paper examines and reflects on a storytelling method that enables children to share their life stories in the intervention and decision-making process associated with child protection evaluations. The child is granted an active role in this process by directly participating in telling their life experiences. The example described herein centre...

Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) provides children with the right to express their views in matters that affect them, particularly those of an administrative and judicial nature. This paper examines the academic discourse in child protection research concerning how Article 12 of the CRC is implemented and how it is m...

Drawing on three semi-structured focus group interviews with a sample of 14 social hackathon participants in southern Estonia, this article reports the findings of participants’ experiences of the co-creation process in developing new services or innovative solutions to community problems by using a method of social hackathon. In general, hackathon...

Decisions regarding children’s residential care reorganisation are primarily based on an adult’s perspective of children’s wellbeing and care. While these adults tend to be well-intended and base their decisions off relevant evidence, the children’s perspectives ‐ which reflects their actual lived experiences ‐ is almost never considered. However,...

This study provides insight into change processes of child residential care as depicted by ethnographic research on Estonian SOS Children’s Villages (SOS CV). Through the analysis of daily life in substitute homes, this study aimed to gain an in-depth and contextualised understanding of this deinstitutionalisation process. The changing approach of...

Qualitative and quantitative research methods were used to study an interprofessional assessment model in rehabilitation services and its implementation in Estonia based on (1) a sample of rehabilitation plans for 160 juvenile offenders aged 7–18 and (2) expert interviews with 10 members of an interprofessional assessment team. Each specialist’s ro...

When placed in a residential care (substitute home), a child is inevitably deprived of one of her or his basics rights – the right of growing up in her or his birth family. Creating a loving environment that supports the well-being of a child and resembles his or her family environment is not an easy task as in addition to ensuring child’s physical...

This article is an attempt to analyse and describe the process of change in child substitute care that has taken place since the re-independence of Estonia in 1991. These changes started with adopting new terms and ideas. However, while international terminology and concepts have been accepted, local conditions affect this acceptance of concepts as...