Emergency Care Arrangements

The priority for unaccompanied children in an emergency is to reunite them with their parents, family members, or relatives as quickly as possible, in order to provide them with care and protection. Where this is not immediately possible, children will require emergency care until reunification is possible via documentation and tracing activities.

Emergency care should cater to the child’s basic shelter, security, food and health needs, on a level that is comparable to the local community in order to avoid encouraging further family separations. Children should be kept fully informed of efforts to locate family, and any interim care plans. All agencies offering care must follow and international standards, and coordinate with the local authority.

The preferred care will usually be with temporary caretakers from the community, rather than in institutions, since this provides continuity and greater protection. Children associated with armed forces may require interim care, if immediate family reunification is not possible and in their best interests. Spontaneous care situations, such as kinship, foster care, and child headed households should be screened, monitored and supported to ensure children are protected and their basic needs and rights are being met. In some cases an alternative placement may be necessary. Where family members cannot be located, a longer term care plan should be formulated, however adoption must only be considered after all tracing and reunification activities have been exhausted over a substantial period of time.

Support programs should include all affected children, and should not target or isolate separated children. They should strengthen the community’s natural coping methods and support structures, and will therefore include community and child participation in decision making processes. All placements must be fully documented to facilitate tracing and reunification activities. Reunification should be the immediate goal for all children, unless this is not in their best interests.

The documents in this section relate to emergency care guidelines and examples from around the world.

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ARC resource pack: Study material - Critical issue module 2: Education

ARC, 2009

This module places emphasis on understanding the vital need for reestablishing education during and after an emergency so as to minimise the psychological impact of the event and maximising the opportunity to strengthen preexisting education structures.

ARC Resource Pack: User Guide

ARC , 2009

The ARC resource pack provides an essential collection of information and training material, to strengthen people’s capacity: to tackle the root causes of children’s vulnerabilities to build effective child protection systems for use in emergencies and long-term development to ensure that no activities inadvertently compromise children’s rights or safety.

ARC resource pack: Study material - Critical issue module 6: Separated children

ARC, 2009

This Critical issue module provides guidance and practical exercises aimed at increasing the ability of staff to respond appropriately and effectively to child separation in an emergency.

Inter-Agency Child Protection Information System: Sample Documents

IRC, Save the Children and UNICEF, 26 Nov 2008

Sample documents to the Information Management System

UNHCR Guidelines on Determining the Best Interests of the Child

United Nations High Commission on Refugees, 01 May 2008

Provides a formal mechanism to determine the best interests of the child as a mechanism within a child protection system

Toolkit on Child Protection in Emergencies: A Guide for Field Workers. Section 5 Psychosocial Support

UNICEF Indonesia , 2008

Contains guidance on how to develop programs to respond to the psychosocial needs of children affected by emergencies. Includes a training schedule, worksheets, and handouts.

Toolkit Child Protection in Emergencies: A Guide for Field Workers. Section 4 Separated and Unaccompanied Children

UNICEF Indonesia , 31 Dec 2007

Contains an overview of programming to prevent and respond to separated and unaccompanied children, including care arrangements. Includes a training program.

No Small Matter: Ensuring Protection and Durable Solutions for Unaccompanied and Separated Children

Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service for UNHCR, 01 May 2007

Guidance and preconditions on use of Best Interests Determination for unaccompanied and separated children

http://www.crin.org/docs/NoSmallMatter.pdf

The Lost Ones: Emergency Care and Family Tracing for Separated Children from Birth to Five Years

Marie de la Soudière, Jan Williamson, Jacqueline Botte, 01 Apr 2007

This document is intended to provide concrete advice on how to put the guiding principles common to most child protection actors into practice. Though cultural traditions and customs may require the advice to be adapted to the specific context, the authors believe that the advice provided is grounded in sufficiently broad experience to guide measures that ensure children under five are not separated when this can be avoided, and, if separated, can be reunited with their families as quickly as possible.

Someone that Matters: The Quality of Care in Childcare Institutions in Indonesia

Florence Martin and Tata Sudrajat, Save the Children, Indonesia Ministry of Social Affairs, UNICEF, 07 Jan 2007

Comprehensive evaluation of national responses and level of care standards for children without parental care in Indonesia.