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This report presents the findings from a two-year peer research project which includes the testimony of more than 300 young people with care experience in Albania, the Czech Republic, Finland, and Poland. Their collective understanding of the leaving care process directly informed both the findings and policy recommendations contained in the report. More than 40 care leavers from the four countries were selected and trained to play an active role in the all aspects of the projects, from designing the questionnaire to conducting the interviews, analyzing the…
ABOUT THE PROGRAM
Hope and Homes for Children has been implementing ACTIVE Family Support in Sarajevo Canton in BiH since 2003. The program consists of two elements: the prevention of separation of children from their parents as the primary focus, and the reintegration of separated children from institutions back into their biological families. This unique and holistic program is tailored to the individual needs of each child and family and it is built on the following core values: partnership, respect, inclusion, sustainability and the best interest of the child.…
This edition of Insights produced by UNICEF summarizes the findings and recommendations of studies on the impact and outreach of social protection systems in Albania, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine. All three countries operate social assistance programmes for children and families and are in the process of establishing social services, but high rates of child placement in formal care still persist, indicating that existing social protection systems are failing to give vulnerable families the support they need to prevent the kinds of crises that lead to a child being placed in…
Through a comprehensive statistical analysis and literature review, this UNICEF report provides a child rights-based up-to-date review of the situation of children under the age of three in formal care in countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CEECIS). It examines regional and country level trends in the use of institutional care and family based alternative care options, in particular foster care.
While major progress has been achieved in the reform of childcare systems in the CEECIS region…
Although valuable national and local responses to HIV have been mounted, effective HIV treatment and prevention programmes in Eastern Europe and Central Asia have largely failed to reach those who are most vulnerable, in particular young people. The insidious consequence of this has been a hidden epidemic which disproportionately strikes young people, adolescents and children. The central challenge of responding to HIV in most countries of the region is the need to come to terms with an epidemic that mostly affects people deemed by society to be ‘delinquent’ or ‘anti-social’. Every day…
The Job That Remains: An Overview of Child Welfare Reform Efforts in Europe & Eurasia examined the eight countries in which USAID supported significant child welfare reform programs: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Georgia, Romania, Russia, and Ukraine. The paper discusses population issues, the current system of child welfare, USAID-funded activities, lessons learned, and best practices.
Significant economic, democratic, and social reforms have changed the face of the region. But one legacy of the communist system – children in institutions – persists…
In 2007, UNICEF and Save the Children UK convened a meeting entitled - Advancing Policy Relevant Research Around Social Welfare Services. In response to the 2007 meeting, UNICEF Child Protection section commissioned three policy-relevant systematic reviews examining the relationship between cash transfers and social welfare services.
The reviews collated evidence which summarized a) the efficacy of cash transfer initiatives on child outcomes including child protection outcomes; b) the potential contact opportunities within cash transfer programmes for linkages…
It has been well-documented that during the Soviet era, social problems were either unrecognized or minimized in the Europe and Eurasia (E&E) region. As social sector reforms have taken root, so has an increased awareness that a well-trained social work workforce is key to the creation of an effective system of social services. Social work as a profession is relatively new to the region thus impacting the path and outcomes of these reforms. USAID Missions with an interest in social services programming in child welfare, disabilities, trafficking in persons (TIP) and domestic violence, and…
The purpose of this report is to create a strategy for assessing the status and progress of child welfare reform in CEE/CIS countries using the best available quantitative and qualitative information. The assessment focuses on children without permanent parents who are in state care, which includes true orphans and social orphans. Traditionally in the region, such children were cared for by the state in several types of residential institutions. A major component of child welfare reform, however, includes providing family-care alternatives, which may incorporate non-relative foster care,…
This report, prepared for the Social Transition Team of the USAID Bureau for Europe and Eurasia (E&E), is the result of a study of promising practices in community-based care for vulnerable groups conducted in five countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia, Romania, and Russia) in the E&E Region between September 2004 and March 2005. Of particular interest is how these countries are moving from residential care to family-focused, community care models utilizing internationally recognized standards for children and youth, elderly, disabled, and minority groups (with an emphasis on Roma…