No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the author.
Alternative Care and Children’s Rights
Abstract
In this chapter children’s rights and state obligations in relation to alternative care are presented, with reference to the UN Alternative Care Guidelines and the general comments and concluding observations of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. The CRC places great emphasis on supporting families to take care of their children. Prevention of the need for alternative care should take place by, inter alia, tackling child poverty and supporting families with children with disabilities, as well as by improving the caretaking abilities of parents in order to avoid neglect and abuse of the child. Any decision to place a child in alternative care should be subject to strict criteria and procedural safeguards, made by a competent body supported by qualified professionals, and involve the child him- or herself. The chapter discusses the type of care, with a preference for family type care. Once in alternative care the child has the right to protection and care in line with standards set by the State. Freedom from violence is a basic requirement, and children should enjoy their rights to education, food, play etc. The child has the right to retain contact with both parents unless contrary to his/her best interests. Monitoring and complaints mechanisms are necessary to ensure that the requirements are met. The possibility of reintegration or other long term solutions is presented, including support to children leaving care. In concluding, the author discusses possible reasons why states do not properly implement the CRC in this area.
... According to Sandberg (2018), a key responsibility of States to children in the formal alternative care system are to ensure that they have access to quality education. The United Nations Guidelines for Alternative Care stipulates that children in care have a right to educational and vocational training as part of their preparation for adulthood (United Nations General Assembly, 2010). ...
The study aims to explore the experiences of Ghanaian care leavers to discern the factors that promote and impede their educational attainment. Data was collected from 23 care leavers using semi-structured interviews. The interviews were then analyzed using the framework method. The findings suggest that the personal motivation of the care leavers and encouragement from significant adults and peers facilitated their academic success. However, the participants identified stigma, lack of academic support, and the inability to participate in decisions as barriers to their education. Recommendations include training residential care staff to enable them to facilitate the participation of young people in decisions about their education, encouraging and supporting young people in care to aspire for higher education, and developing plans to guide their educational progress.
Iako ne postoji univerzalno prihvaćena definicija „obitelji“ ni „obiteljskog života“, može se smatrati općeprihvaćenim da ti pojmovi nisu ograničeni isključivo na osobe povezane biološkim srodstvom. Oba ta koncepta, na međunarodnoj i europskoj razini, obuhvaćaju i udomitelje tj. udomiteljske obitelji. Ovo istraživanje usmjereno je ponajprije na ispitivanje pristupa Europskog suda za ljudska prava spram mogućnosti nastanka i zaštite obiteljskog života u kontekstu udomiteljstva. Iako ovaj Sud pruža zaštitu različitim oblicima bliskih osobnih veza, svrha i narav udomiteljstva te razlozi i način zasnivanja udomiteljskog odnosa nameću potrebu pobližeg pronicanja u pojedine aspekte obiteljskog života razvijenog u tom kontekstu, počevši već od modaliteta njihova nastanka – obiteljski život biološke obitelji može se smatrati danim, dok u udomiteljskoj obitelji obiteljske veze treba „izgraditi“. Cilj ovog rada jest identificirati pretpostavke nastanka obiteljskog života između udomitelja i udomljenog djeteta te sadržaj i doseg pravne zaštite prava udomitelja na obiteljski život u judikaturi Suda. Također, autorica se osvrće na pitanje zastupanja djeteta od strane udomitelja u postupku pred Sudom te problematiku instrumentalizacije udomiteljstva u svrhu legitimiranja protupravnih postupaka. Zaključci na koje ovo istraživanje upućuje trebali bi biti de lege ferenda smjernice državama u pogledu pristupa uređenju odnosa između udomitelja i udomljene djece.
In the European context, an understanding that States are responsible for an effective child protection system is well established. Further, all 47 members of the CoE have adopted the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, and all European countries have ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Thus, States have come to understand their responsibility in terms of the child’s right to protection. The aim of this article is to explicate core elements of an effective child protection system within a child’s rights framework. This aim is accomplished by highlighting and providing analysis of the principles set forth in the CRC and further elaborated in General Comment No. 13 (2011) and by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the main components of policies and other relevant documents of the European Union (EU) and the Council of Europe (CoE), and caselaw from the European Court of Human Rights (ECrtHR) and then presenting recommendations for an effective State-run child protection system.
This chapter provides the reader with a legal understanding of children’s right to protection against maltreatment in their homes and the obligations of states parties in implementing this right in practice. The rights and obligations form the framework within which to exercise professional judgment in this area, and specifying their content is a prerequisite for rights to be realized. The focus is on the obligations to prevent and respond to maltreatment as well as on the best interests of the child.
The inclusion of kafalah of Islamic law in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is the first time an exclusively Islamic concept is recognised in a binding international instrument. The drafting of CRC was set against the background of compromise as it relates to the provision of alternative care for children deprived of a family environment. Islamic kafalah represents one of such compromises in an attempt to accommodate the differences of the various state parties to CRC. However, many scholarly works on children's rights refer to Islamic kafalah only within the context of its 'discovery' during the drafting process of CRC and, as such, the meaning, extent and practice of kafalah, as an alternative care option for children deprived of parental care, has not been the subject of much study. This is unlike the case with other forms of alternative childcare like foster care and adoption. Other studies more focused on Islam and human rights refer to kafalah only within the broader context of discussing the links and divergences between Islamic law and human rights, or children's rights more specifically. This article specifically focuses on kafalah as an alternative care option for children deprived of a family environment in comparison with other forms of alternative childcare. The extent to which kafalah is internationally recognised and practised is also addressed. A number of themes are analysed in the article, including what the concept of kafalah entails, what its legal implications are, what factors distinguish it from other forms of alternative care, and what the international dimensions to kafalah are in relation to the subject of intercountry adoption. In light of all these questions, an understanding of kafalah will contribute to international children's rights jurisprudence in the context of child care and protection.
Given the relatively large body of literature documenting the adverse impacts of institutionalization on children’s developmental outcomes and well-being, it is essential that countries work towards reducing the number of children in alternative care (particularly institutional care), and, when possible, reunite children with their families. In order to do so, reliable estimates of the numbers of children living in such settings are essential. However, many countries still lack functional administrative systems for enumerating children living outside of family care.
This paper offers a brief picture of an international policy framework, the United Nations Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children, and their development from initial conception within the Committee on the Rights of the Child to today. It provides an overview of the key principles of these Guidelines, drawing from a new resource developed to support their implementation around the world, entitled Moving Forward: Implementing the Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children. This overview includes an explanation of the “necessity” and “suitability” principles; the importance of prevention alongside a robust “gatekeeping” function; the fundamental need for developing a genuine range of options; and the significance of focusing on “de-institutionalising the care system”. This article aims to offer something of a road map, identifying along the way a number of key milestones negotiated for children’s rights to be fully realised in alternative care. While this is a long road, the course has been internationally agreed.
Most low and middle-income countries have implemented programmes providing transfers to families in poverty, often with a focus on children. The paper examines the potential effects of social transfers in these countries on child protection outcomes: the reduction of violence, exploitation and abuse of children, family separation and improved birth registration. The analysis is based on database including information on 79 impact evaluations in 28 countries, covering 45 medium and large-scale social transfer programmes. The paper identifies and evaluates three sets of effects: direct effects observed where social transfers have explicit child protection outcome objectives; poverty-mediated effects where the impact of social transfers on poverty and exclusion leads to improved child protection outcomes; and operational synergies arising from the implementation of social transfers. An extended report of this study, including full references can be accessed at: http://www.unicef-irc.org./publications/691.
Residential child care has proved to be one of the most difficult and complex interventions in the lives of children around the globe. There are polarized views about residential care and this is reflected in ambivalence in legislation, policy, and practice. Residential child care, however, continues to have a positive role in the care of children and young people when they are unable to remain in their own families. High-quality and effective residential care should provide an environment that enhances development, promotes resilience, and builds the confidence and self-esteem of children and young people.
This paper examines whether, and in what way, the child participates in care order decisions heard by the Norwegian County Boards. If they are heard, how are their opinions weighed, and do the children themselves present their perspective of their situation? We analysed a total of 53 written rulings on care orders that included all the publicly available decisions in the time period from 2007–2013 that concerned a child in the age range of 5–11 years old. The findings show that the child’s opinion in seven out of ten cases is not mentioned or only very briefly mentioned. In the remaining of the cases, the opinion of the child is considered and given due weight. Finally, we find that rarely is the child’s perspective of the situation referred to in the written decisions. This means that the most important person in a care order decision-making process – the child – is not at the centre of the proceeding. The general conclusion is that children’s views about their needs, interests and perception of the situation are not evident in the County Boards’ reasoning in these care order cases, and it is the exception that their opinion is considered.
The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), formally the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, is a uniquely successful system for enforcing human rights, but it contains few references to children’s rights. The case law of the European Court of Human Rights is a rich source of human rights, which, at the same time, has been interpreted in a way that advances children’s rights. This chapter aims to explore the contribution of the European Court’s jurisprudence in this area; in particular, it considers the use of article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) to interpret the ECHR in the two areas of child access/custody and juvenile justice.
The care and protection of children experiencing or considered to be at risk of abuse or neglect within their families is a major policy dilemma. Children in the care and protection system do not fare well on a range of indicators, when compared to the overall population. In recent years there have been significant changes in policies and support for children in out of home care, including the adoption of the language of rights. Nevertheless, the care and protection of children who enter the system bearing that name is often dubbed one of social policy’s ‘wicked problems’. This paper synthesizes concepts of human rights, children’s needs and citizenship as a basis for redefining policy and services for children in out-of-home care. We suggest that improved support for children in out of home care requires the recognition of children as partners.
Implementation handbook for the convention on the rights of the child
- Newell Hodgkin
- Hodgkin
Keeping children out of harmful institutions: why we should be investing in family-based care
- Save the Children UK
The child’s opinion and position in care order proceedings: an analysis of judicial discretion in the county boards’ decision-making
- A M Magnussen
- M Skivenes
- AM Magnussen
United Nations study on violence against children (see A/61/299
- P S Pinheiro
Ungdomsenhet øst 7.-8. februar 2017 (the Norwegian Parliamentary Ombudsman
- Sivilombudsmannen
Ungdomsenheten og det tverretatlige teamet ved Bjørgvin fengsel, NOVA Rapport 1/16 (research report evaluating the Bergen prison unit for children between
- E G Stang
- I Hydle