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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Children and Youth in Care - Hotel Placements

Ministry of Children and Family Development, British Columbia, Canada, 02 Jun 2016

This special report from the Ministry of Children and Family Development in British Columbia, Canada presents findings on the number of children in care in the province who were sent to stay in hotels.

Children’s Emergency Relief and Protection Act - Philippines

Government of the Philippines, 2016

President Aquino of the Philippines has recently signed into law the “Children’s Emergency Relief and Protection Act,” an Act which ensures the protection of children “in times of calamity, disaster, and other emergency situations.”

Analytical report: Child Fosterage and Child Domestic Work in Haiti in 2014

Tone Sommerfelt, 31 Dec 2015

This report is an analysis of the overall findings from the research project on Haitian child domestic workers.

Supporting Family and Community Investments for Young Children Globally: Workshop in Brief

The National Academy of Science, 03 Nov 2015

On July 27–29, 2015, the Forum on Investing in Young Children Globally, in partnership with the Ethiopian Academy of Sciences, held a workshop in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to examine topics related to supporting family and community investments in young children globally.

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At the Crossroads for Unaccompanied Migrant Children: Policy, Practice & Protection

Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS) , 23 Jul 2015

This report presents policy and practice recommendations for the care and protection of unaccompanied migrant children in the United States, based on the wisdom and learning shared by participants in three Roundtable meetings convened by Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS).

CP MERG 27 May 2015 Webinar Recording: Evaluating Protection and Psychosocial Support in the Context of Humanitarian Settings

CP MERG, 27 May 2015

CP MERG hosted a webinar on 27 May 2015 entitled “Evaluating Protection and Psychosocial Support in the Context of Humanitarian Settings” and now the webinar recording and powerpoint presentations are available on the CP MERG website.

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UNICEF Child Protection Earthquake Response April-May 2015

UNICEF, 01 May 2015

This document reviews UNICEF’s achievements in ensuring children’s protection in the 6 weeks following the devastating earthquakes in Nepal in 2015.

Unaccompanied and Separated Children Video

Global Child Protection Working Group, 16 Mar 2015

This video examines Standard 13, “Unaccompanied and Separated Children,” of the Minimum Standards for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action, developed by the Global Child Protection Working Group and collaborators.

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Orphans and Ebola: Estimating the Secondary Impact of a Public Health Crisis

David K. Evans and Anna Popova - World Bank , 01 Feb 2015

This paper combines data on the age distribution of current and projected mortality from Ebola with the fertility distribution of adults in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, to estimate the likely impact of the epidemic on the number of orphans in these three countries.

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Humanitarian Protection for Children Fleeing Gang-Based Violence in the Americas

Elizabeth Carlson, Anna Marie Gallagher - Journal on Migration and Human Security, 2015

This paper provides an overview of the violence perpetrated by gangs and other criminal organizations in Mexico and Central America which compels many children to flee their communities. The paper also describes the US government’s obligations to protect unaccompanied children upon arrival, and good practices of other governments relating to the protection of child migrants and refugees.