Strengthening the role of the EU

• Author: Nordenmark Severinsson, Anna; Lerch, Véronique
• Pages: 46-47

Target Group Discussion Paper Children in Alternative Care

46

• Strengthen and expand the existing ex-ante conditionality 9.1 of the ESIF,

which refers to deinstitutionalisation38

During the funding period 2014-2020, only 12 countries (see footnote 1 for the list of

countries) were identified by the EC as countries with a need fo r deinstitutionalisation

reforms. In the next funding period, th e requirement to set up policy frameworks

promoting the transition from institutional care to community-based care should no longer

be limited to countries with identified needs, but should be extended to all MS.

• Strengthen the mo nitoring of the ex-ante conditionality 9.1 of the ESIF,

with updated guidelines which could include for instance :

- indicators to track the transition process, including relevant outcomes for

beneficiaries,

- a transparent tracking progress, such as annual reports on achievements and

challenges which include updates on the number of people in institutions, and the

outcomes of those who have transitioned to family and community services” (Gîrlescu,

2018).

• Strengthen the partnership principle

The partnership principle was an important introduction in the 2014-2020 Common

Provision Regulation, as it gave the opportunity to NGOs to be involved at all stages in the

implementation of Partnership Agreements and programmes. However, the partnership

principle was not meaningfully implemented. The partnership principle and the European

Code of Conduct on Partnership are u seful tools and, for the next funding period, it would

be important to ensure that NGOs working with and for children are meaningfully consulted

during the whole process for the Operational Programmes th at concern alternative care

reform.

Strengthening the role of the EU

The EU can play a significant role in the development of comprehensive and systemic

reforms of alternative care for children and family support, ensuring that EU funding is put

towards sustainable reforms that will eventually strengthen national child protection

systems. Those reforms require a l ong-term commitment as they involve some major

paradigm shifts and behavi oural and mentality shifts. It is therefore essential that the EU

continues its support of its reforms.

With the adopti on of the enablin g condition 4.3 in the Common Provision Regulation, the

EC has already introduced the development of national strategic policy frameworks on

poverty reduction and soci al inclusion that will also include measures for more

comprehensive alternative child care reforms and the transition from institutional to family-

based care. The EU can play a significant role in ensuring the funding of measures that will

be aligned with these national strategic policy frameworks.

In Section 5, we have made a number of recom mendations concerning the use of ESIF.

Below, we suggest various concrete measures that could contribute to supporting work in

MS with children in alternative care, and the types of arrangements that woul d be needed

within countries to ensure effective implementation of such measures .

• Address the p aucity and quality of data about children in alternative care

or at risk of losing parental care as well as care leavers, which are essential

to better understand the si tuation of children in alternative care and to assess

current policies.

• Promote qua ntitative data but al so qualitative data and other innovative ways of

measuring TG children’s and care leaver’s needs and situation, recognising the

limits of statistics (e.g. action research).

38 This is one of the recommendations to the EU from Eurochild and their partners on the post-2020 Multiannual

Financial Framework.