Context of the paper, authorship and acknowledgements

• Author: Nordenmark Severinsson, Anna; Lerch, Véronique
• Pages: 5-5

Target Group Discussion Paper Children in Alternative Care

5

Context of the paper, authorship and acknowledgements

Following the call in 2015 from the European Parliament to i ntroduce a Child Guarantee

and the subsequent request to the European Commission (EC) in 2017 to implement a

Preparatory Action to explore its potential scope, the Commission launched a feasibility

study in 2018 that is aimed at examining and making proposals as to how a specific

programme could best be developed in order to fight poverty and social exclusion amongst

the EU’s most di sadvantaged children (i.e. children living in p recarious fami ly situations,

children residing in institutions, children with a migrant background [including refugee

children], and children with disabilities) and to ensure their access to the five key poli cy

areas (PAs) identified by the European Parliament, (i.e. free healthcare, free educati on,

free early childhood education and care [ECEC], decent housing, and adequate nut rition).

This Feasibility Study for a Child Guarantee (FS CG) has been commissioned as a key part

of the Preparatory Action agreed between the EC and the European Parli ament. The FSCG

is managed by a consortiu m consisting of Applica and the Luxembourg Institute of S ocio-

Economic Research (LISER), in collaboration with Eurochild and Save th e Children.

The FSCG is a combination of 28 Country Reports, five Policy Papers ( one on each of the

five PAs identified by the Parliament) and four Target Group Discussion Papers (one on

each of the four Target Groups [TGs] identified by the Commission). This work is also being

complemented by specific case studies highlighting lessons from international funding

programmes, an online consultation with key stakeholders, and focus group c onsultations

with children.

Each TG Discussion Paper examines in detail issues in relation to the access to the five PAs

of children in the TG and reviews and a ssesses the strengths and weaknesses of existing

approaches and policies at the national and EU level. It draws heavily on the analysi s

presented in the FSCG Inception Report1 that was prepared by the FSC G Core Team, on

the findings from the 28 FSCG Country Reports, on the five FSCG Policy Papers and on the

results of the FSCG online consultation, as well as on the academic literature and

consultation with key experts.

The draft TG Discussion Papers constituted important resources for the four TG fact-finding

workshops that were organised i n September and October 2019 as part of the FSCG. The

papers were then finalised following the workshops. Discussions at these workshops

together with the findings of the various FSCG reports will feed into an Intermediate

Report, which will provide the basis for discussion at a concluding conference in early 2020.

The final outcomes of the study will then be summarised in the Fin al FSCG Report.

The authors of the four TG Discussion Papers are grateful to Hugh Frazer, Anne-Cathe rine

Guio and Eric Marlier (FSCG Core team), the Country and PA Experts (the list of these

experts is provided in the Annex), Eurochild and Save the Children, as w ell as the fact-

finding workshops’ pa rticipants for thei r helpful comments and suggestions. All errors

remain the authors’. The EC bears no responsibility for the analyses and conclusions, which

are solely those of the authors.

1 https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=1428&langId=en