Description and assessment of main policies and programmes in place in the member states and recommendations for improvements

• Author: Nordenmark Severinsson, Anna; Lerch, Véronique
• Pages: 27-41

Target Group Discussion Paper Children in Alternative Care

27

Description and assessment of main policies and

programmes in place in the Member States and

recommendations for improvements

Most policies of MS related to children in alternative care are not yet fully in line with the

UNCRC and the 2009 UN Guidelines for the alternative care of children. All policies related

to children in care and at risk of being separated from their parents should be guided by

the principles of appropriateness and suitability developed in the UN Guidelines – see the

definition of these principles in the ‘Key terms related to alternative care’ at the end of this

report.

National experts were asked to identify the main weaknesses and barriers in existing policy

instruments related to the TG. Most informants did not limit themselves to children residing

in institutions and looked at some broader issues. Annex 2 lists all the answers provided

and illustrates the wide range of policies necessary for the successful realisation of the

rights of children in alternative care. Their answers are also reflected in the different sub-

Sections 4.1-4.7.

4.1 Deinstitutionalisation policies

The Common European Guidelines for the Transition from Institutional Care to Community-

based Care correctly avoid as much as possible using the term deinstitutionalisation ‘since

it is often understood as simply the closure of institutions’ and explains that when the term

is used, it ‘refers to the process of developing a range of services in the community,

including prevention, in order to eliminate the need for institutiona l care’.

Many MS have made the transition from alternative care systems that rely mainly on

residential care with an institutional care culture to systems that provide care to children

in family-based or family-like care settings. For instance, Ireland now has one of the lowest

numbers of children in residential care due to a radical transformation of its child protection

system after the revelations of widespread abuse of children in institutions. Ireland has

developed in the last 20 years a wide range of care options to cater for the individual needs

of children. However, there are still MS where residential care, often with an institutional

care culture, is the predominant alternative care service available to children without

parental care (FSCG Inception Report, 2018).

Even though most countries in Europe developed deinstitutionalisation strategies and

policies more than 20 years ago, progress is very slow. For instance, Hungary started its

deinstitutionalisation process in 1997 and still has some relatively large institutions;

Lithuania started in 2003, Romania in 2004, Croatia in 2006, and Bulgaria in 2007. In

Estonia, the Green Paper on Alternative Care was finalised in 2014 and three main

objectives were set: to increase the proportion of family-based alternative care, to increase

the quality of alternative care, and to improve the effectiveness of the transition to

independent living and continued services (Anniste, 2019).

The main barriers to the successful and effective realisation of deinstitutionalisation policies

seem to be the following.

• Lack of a vision and a strategy on deinstitutionalisation

All 12 countries (except Greece) identified by the EC as in need of deinstitutionalisation

reforms have developed a strategy for deinstitutionalisation.

Some countries with a high number of children in institutions still lack a

deinstitutionalisation strategy. This is the case, for instance, for Belgium, France, Portugal,

and Spain. As highlighted above, it is essential that those reforms are comprehensive,

systemic, and not just focused on reducing the number of alternative care institutions. It

would be more appropriate to speak of a strategy for a reform of the alternative care

system. However, as many countries still refer to deinstitutionalisation strategies, this

report still uses that term.