Reforms of the child protection systems were initiated in the 2000s in almost all CEE/CIS countries, but have so far not resulted in a reduction in the rates of children who enter public care. The reasons for mixed results of the reforms are potentially many. So far, a lot of attention has been given to legal reforms and development of policy documents while less attention has been given to accompany these regulatory reforms with the necessary operational frameworks that would enable the restructuring of child care services and the development of new services.
Balancing the supply of residential care with other type of services which can provide alternative services to vast number of already institutionalized children and responding to the new demand for services, is at the core of the process of reforms in service provision. Contrary to the widespread belief, such reform does not happen as a direct result of new legislation. The regulatory means needed to transform a system that is mainly relying on large scale and centrally planned residential care, to a “continuum of services” that is relying on a mix of social services to respond at the local level to different risks and vulnerabilities of families and children, are in the camp of management, planning and social dialogue, where social dialogue needs to be the basis for the first two processes.
If needed, deregulation or revision of some of the existing laws or bylaws should pave the way for Action Plans with multi-year and yearly targets, deadlines, obligations of stakeholders and needed resources. These efforts are recommended to facilitate, in the medium term, the following reform objectives:
• increase in child and family support services which can assist at risk children and
families and prevent separation of children from their families;
• increase in substitute family care placements (adoptions, live-in with guardians, foster
care) to reduce reliance on residential care;
• decrease in placements and time spent in residential care and deployment of the
staff and use of institutional infrastructure for new services;
• introduction of holistic case assessment methods, case management, planning and
monitoring procedures to assure adequate care options at individual and family
levels.
The above reform objectives not only have the effect of improving the situation of families and children, but also contribute to a more cost-effective use of State resources.
©Child Care System Reform