Gaps and challenges and possible key policies and programmes to address them

• Author: Guio, A-C.; Marlier, E.; Frazer, H.
• Pages: 117-151

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7. Gaps and challenges and possible key policies and

programmes to address them264

As has been shown in Chapter 3, t he extent to which the four TGs have access to the five

social rights under scrutiny varies widely across Membe r States. Thus it i s not surpri sing

to find that the scale and range of chal lenges facing Member States to ensure acces s also

varies wi dely. In th is chapter we summarise the evidence that has emerged during the

FSCG on the main gaps and challenges in Member States which face children from the four

TGs i n accessing the five areas identified by the European Parliament. We dr aw on the

experience of policies and programmes in Member States that are successful in enabling

access, in order to identify the policies and programmes that can help to address the gaps

and challenges where they exist. Of course the starting point and context for each Member

State is different, and thus each Member State will need to decide which areas it needs to

prioritise so that it can progressively realise the rights of children in vulnerabl e situations

to access each of the five areas. To help them in this regard, in Ann exes 7.1-7.6 we

summarise some suggestions from FSCG country experts f or priority action.

As far as possible we group the chal lenges and the possible solutions that are common to

all or most children in vulnerable situations (i.e. the four TGs) and those t hat are specific

to a particular TG. We begin by looking at some issues that cut across the different TGs

and PAs and then look at each of the five PAs in turn.

7.1 Cross-cutting gaps and challenges and possible action to address

them

7.1.1 Gaps and challenges

Although there are gaps and challenges that are particular to each PA and to each o f the

four TGs, the FSCG research has identi fied key recurring barriers to devel oping effective

policies and programmes that cut across the five PAs and can hinder the access by children

from all four TGs to the five key social rights under scrutiny , as follows.

 Lack of societal and political awareness: a lack of general social and political awareness

of the extent of child poverty and social exclusion and the extent to which children in

vulnerable situations do not have access to the five PAs, i s often a barrier to the

development of effective policies. The lack of awaren ess leads to a lack of political will

and insufficient political priority being given to addressing the issue. This in turn is

reflected in a lack of visi on about what is needed. Thi s can also be c ombined wi th a

lack of publ ic support or demand for better policies and sometimes by actual public

resistance to doing more for particular TGs. There can also be vested interests that

support the continuation of unsuitable policies and programmes such as instituti onal

provision for children in care.

 Lack of strategic approach : a key consequence of the lack of awareness and political

will is often a failure to develop a strategic approach to ensuring that all children,

especially those in vulnerable situations, have access to the five PAs. This leads to

inadequate and under-resourced provision and to piecemeal programmes and projects.

 Gap between legislation and practice: in some instances there can be a significant gap

between the recognition in national legislation of the rights of all children to access

inclusive services and the actual practice on the ground. In many case s this i s linked

to underfinancing of core se rvices, such that their effective deli very is limited and of

264 This chapter draws heavily on the five FSCG Policy Papers, the four FSCG Target Group Discussion Papers,

and the discussions at the FSCG’s four fact-finding workshops. These papers in turn draw on the 28 FSCG

Country Reports. See ‘List of FSCG Experts, List of documents generated within the FSCG and References’.

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poor quality. It can also reflect a failure of service providers to understand the full

implications of children’s rights enshrined in legislation.

 Negative impact of income pove rty: an important issue that can hinder the ability of

children and their families to access their key social rights is living in poverty. Two

factors come into play here. First, fear concerning, or sometimes the reality of, the

costs associated with accessing services can be a barrier. Second, the day-to-day

struggle to survive on a low income and the fear of stigmatisation can undermine self-

confidence and initiative; this can reduce parents’ energy and capac ity to find the

necessary information on their rights and to access services.

 Fragmented systems and lack of coordination: the needs of children in vulnerable

situations and their families are often complex and multiple , and cut across different

PAs. Responding to this can require effective child-centred cooperation across PAs and

programmes. However, too often the delivery of policies is in policy ‘silos’, and there is

a lack of coordination and cooperation between policy providers to ensure that their

policies are mutually reinforcing and delivered in an integrated way at local level.

 Lack of child and parental involvement: when parents and chil dren in vulnerable

situations are not consulted and do n ot have their views and experiences taken in to

account in the development an d implementati on of policies there is a risk that those

policies are implemented in ways that do not reflect their needs and experiences ; this

can lead to unintended barriers to their accessing the key social right s.

 Lack of und erstanding of what constitutes inclusive a nd accessible services: although

the rights of all children to access services may exist in legislation, sometimes there is

insufficient awareness amongst policy makers and professionals as to what is necessary

to make t hose services truly inclusi ve for ch ildren coming from vulnerabl e situations.

Sometimes the culture and ways of wor king of services can be too inflexible and not

sufficiently attuned to the needs of all children. Outdated views on the merits of

separate development and segregated services can also persist if not c hallenged.

7.1.2 Possible action to address t he cross-cutting gaps and challenges

Drawing on positive exam ples in Member States , the FSCG research has identified 15

measures that can help Member States to avoid or address the seven cross-cutting barriers

and challenges outlined above.

 Invest in raising public and political awareness of the five key social rights under

scrutiny: creating political will and a positive societal environment for ensuring children

in vulnerable situations have access to essential services can be fostered by active

efforts to promote understanding and awareness of children’s rights and of the

consequences and costs of failing to do so. One key way of doing this in many Member

States is through resourcing and encouragi ng ombudspersons for chi ldren to promote

a broad awareness of the rights of all children to such services, as set out in

international legal frameworks such as the UNCRC and UNCRPD. Another important

way to enhance access to key social rights is t o educat e children and parents about

their rights to access essential services and provide them with information about how

to access these services.

 Increase the political visibility of children’s rights by defining child -specific targets in

each PA: this should be associated with a strong monitoring framework, based on a

portfolio of indi cators covering all dimensions (an d possibly TGs) that would allow for

a systematic screening of all Member State s’ performance. This shoul d be done in

connection with the exercise already undertaken for the UNCRC.

 Proof all services for children for their consistency with children’s rights: all policies

should be tested for compliance with international children’s rights instruments and

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action taken to ensure there are clear equal opportunities, effective inclusi veness, and

non-discrimination and anti-racism frameworks that apply to all PAs and programmes.

 Facilitate the use of strategic litigation to enforce children’s access to their rights:

enforcing children’s access to their social rights through the courts can be an important

way of addressing gaps between legislation and practice on the ground. This can be

facilitated by resourcing independent bodies such as children’s ombudspersons and

social rights NGOs to take cases to courts in cases when children’s rights are not being

respected (see also Annex 9.1).

 End policies and programmes which segregate, separate and isolate: closely related to

the emphasis on ensuring all policies and programmes are in line with international

children’s rights instruments is the importance of maki ng it a principle of pol icy that

there should be an end to separate provisions developed for children in vulnerabl e

situations. Every effort should be mad e to ensure their access to and f ull inclusion in

mainline public services. In particul ar there should be an end to institutional provision

for children separated from their families. Indeed, it is a prerequisite for these children

to access the five social rights under scrutiny that investment is made in comprehensive

strategies, in volving a full range of good-quality alternative care options for children

who need an alternative care placement, and a range of services to support families to

prevent the separation of chi ldren from their families. Similarl y, separate schooling

arrangements for some children, such as children with disabilities, children with a

migrant background or children in precarious family situations, should be ended. The

same applies to unnecessary hospitalisation or institutionalisation of children with long-

term disabili ty or health problems which do not need c ontinuous formal professional

care. Support for living at home or i n a foster placement is far preferabl e and likely to

be l ess exp ensive on an ongoing basis. Efforts to end segregation in public services

should be accompanied by an end to segregated housing solutions and neighbourhoods.

All developments, pri vate and pu blic, should be incentivised to have both private and

social elements.

 Combine universal and specific policies: At a policy level it is essential to recognise that

ensuring ch ildren i n vuln erable situ ations h ave ac cess to essential services needs to

combine two approaches. First, every effort needs to be made to ensure that universal

services for all children are developed in as inclusive a way as possible. This is essential

to addressing inequalities between children, to ensure that all children have a decent

standard of living and to ensure that children in vul nerable situations have acc ess to

the same quality of services and the same opportunities as other children. Good-quality

universal public services play a key role in ensuring all children h ave access to safety,

opportunity and participation.265 Second, to enable some children to access universal

services, specific additional or compl ementary p olicies may be n eeded to me et th eir

specific needs. Such specific policies should b e seen not as an alternative to accessing

mainstream provision but as complementary and enabling.

 Develop integrated, comprehensive and strategic action plans/frameworks: ensuring

that children in vulnerable situations have effective access to essential services requires

a systematic and carefully plann ed approach to tackling the issue of child poverty and

social exclusion. This means developing national (and where appr opriate regional and

local) strategies which emphasise a multidimensional, holistic approach – with a strong

focus on coordination and cooperation between services and effective outreach to those

children in particularly vulnerable situations. Such plans should be coordinated at the

highest level (e.g. prime minister of national/regi onal government) in order to give

them high visibility and make possible effective coordination. This can then provide the

265 For more on the role of universal public services in addressing inequalities, see Coote (2017).