Transforming an Orphanage Into a Family Support Facility
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Committee on the Rights of the Child United Nation’s Children Fund (UNICEF) Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the Republic of Kazakhstan TRANSFORMING AN ORPHANAGE INTO A FAMILY SUPPORT FACILITY A Procedural Guide Shymkent 2008 © UNICEF, Kazakhstan 2008 Pictures: Raikhan Amzeyeva, UNICEF, Kazakhstan 2008 The views expressed in this document are the responsibility of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the policy and views of UNICEF. The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this document do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNICEF concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authority, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The figures and material in these publications cannot be reprinted, cited, or used in other way without reference to this report. This report is disseminated free of charge. UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) representative office in the Republic of Kazakhstan 10-a Beibitshilik, block 1, 010000 Astana Tel: (+7 7172) 321797, 322969 Fax: (+7 7172) 321803 Web-site: www.unicef.kz E-mail: [email protected], [email protected] 2 This procedural guide has been prepared as part of a project entitled "Transforming Orphanages to Protect Children’s Rights in South Kazakhstan Oblast (SKO)". The project was launched by children’s home No.3 in Shymkent and the SKO department of education under the auspices of UNICEF. These guidelines are aimed at specialists working in residential institutions, care facilities and children’s rights departments, social workers, psychologists and all those who have an interest in the future of children who have lost their families or found themselves in difficulty. Compiled by: R.U. Amzeyeva, T.V. Prackht, Y.N. Fatkina – NGO, Harmony Family Psychology Center, Shymkent 3 Table of Contents I. Introduction II. Main Stages of Transformation Step1. Assessing the ability of the staff of Shymkent Children’s Home No. 3 to undertake the transformation and the training and materials required 1. How and why the assessment was carried out 2. Results of the assessment and staff training recommendations 3. List of materials and software required for staff duties and for training Step2. Teaching, training and motivating the children’s home staff 1. Training workshops for care facilities and staff 2. Motivation, teaching, training 3. The transformation plan, the objectives, responsibilities, activity, and structure of the Family Support Facility 4. Responsibilities of Family Support Facility staff. Job Descriptions. Step 3. Setting up and managing field social work teams, staff training 1. Stage 1– Preparation 2. Stage 2–Theory 3. Stage 3 – Practice Step 4. Developing procedures for reuniting a child with his/her birth family. Mapping and individual planning 1. The Family Support Facility’s work with the birth family of a child placed in the institution 2. Assessing the birth family’s circumstances 3. Electronic database of birth families 4. Individual child protection plan. Integrated child and family records. The concilium. Step 5. Developing a working relationship with a foster family 1. Guidelines for working with a foster family 2. Information campaign to recruit prospective adoptive parents 3. The criteria for selecting adoptive parents and assessing their motivation to adopt 4. School for Adoptive Parents 5. Planning and preparing for the placement of a child with a foster family 6. Foster family support and monitoring 7. Criteria for evaluating a child’s care and well-being in the foster family Step 6. Working with dysfunctional families 1. Risks involved in identifying a family as dysfunctional 2. Working with dysfunctional families 3. Identifying and registering dysfunctional families 4. Profile of a dysfunctional family 5. Family support models: educational; social and legal; psychological and medical 6. Criteria of family dysfunction 7. Specialist techniques for counselling a dysfunctional family 4 Step 7. Creating a child-friendly environment in care facilities 1. What constitutes a “child-friendly environment” in care facilities 2. Assessing a child-friendly environment in care facilities 3. Indicators of child-friendliness in care facilities 4. Friendly environment models for different care facilities (infants’ home, special sheltered accommodation, youth home, children’s home) 5. Training for children’s home and Family Support Facility staff on the psychological aspects of their work with families and children Step 8. Evaluating the knowledge, skills and motivation of children’s home and Family Support Facility Staff after training 1. Comparative analysis of the initial evaluation and re-evaluation after training 2. Conclusion III. Estimated cost of gradually transforming Shymkent Children’s Home No.3 into the South Kazakhstan Oblast Family Support Facility and of De- Institutionalizing South Kazakhstan Oblast 1. Cost estimates for the gradual transformation of Shymkent Children’s Home No.3 into a Family Support Facility 2. Comparative analysis of financial expenses for current and proposed types 3. Estimate of the cost of de-institutionalization in South Kazakhstan Oblast IV. Appendices V. References 5 I. Introduction Recently, many European countries and countries in the CIS (Russia, Belarus) have acknowledged that being placed in care nearly always affects the development and health of a child with no family. Numerous studies prove that children brought up in institutions often have physical, emotional, social, and cognitive impairment. There are many reasons why children in care have personal and developmental problems. Among these are : − various forms of deprivation (maternal, motor, sensory, mental, emotional, social); − group education; regimentation of the child’s life; − instability (i.e., repeated change) of adults looking after/teaching children; − lack of privacy; each child is with other children and adults 24-hours a day; − no personal possessions or private space; − narrow developmental environment restricts children’s specific sentient experiences because of the small number and uniformity of objects the children operate with (welfare items, special toys); − no lasting relations with or sense of belonging within the community, which is essential for socialisation; − inadequate psychological and teaching qualifications among staff members; − lack of rehabilitation and assistance programs oriented at child developmental problems caused by the absence of their family; − Uniform approach to the education of each child in the institution. Indications of inadequate personal development are noticeable in emotions and behavior, inability to interact socially, self-mistrust, lack of self-organization and sense of purpose. Therefore in children’s best interests, it is essential, where possible, to avoid placing a child in an orphanage institution. For young children already in these institutions, action should be taken as soon as possible to place them with families, thus minimizing harm and maximizing their chances of recovery. In most cases, family is the only natural protective environment for a child. The family ensures care and protection of a child. In the family, each child is a personality. In an institution, that personality is lost among others. The right of a child to live and be brought up in a family is enshrined in law. The “Children of Kazakhstan” Program adopted on 21 December 2007 by the Government of the RoK emphasizes the importance of the gradual transformation in the functioning of orphanage institution. Placing children with families or creating conditions similar to families appear to be the most effective means of successfully socializing orphaned children and children without parental care. This procedural guide is an account of the transformation of SKO Shymkent Children’s Home №3 into a Family Support Facility. This was undertaken as part of the “Transformation of Children’s Homes to Protect the Rights of the Child in South Kazakhstan Oblast” – a project implemented by Children’s Home №3 and the SKO Education Department under the auspices of UNICEF. The main objective of the project is to contribute to the protection of a child’s right to live within a family by transforming children’s homes and developing family support institutions in South Kazakhstan oblast. The guide describes each step in the first stage of transforming the institution: − assessing the staff of the children’s home’s ability to make the changes; − informing and training the staff; − setting up and managing field teams; − establishing and testing procedures for working with birth families; − establishing and testing procedures for working with adoptive families; 6 − establishing procedures for working with dysfunctional families; − creating a child-centred environment in a children’s home; − making a final assessment of the knowledge, skills and motivation level of children’s home staff This guide includes information on the gradual change in the funding required to finance the residential child-care system as the de-institutionalization process in SKO progresses. The appendices include documents used in the FSF. Role-play and other techniques used in personnel training are of particular interest. We would especially like to thank the specialists of the Child Protection Department of South Kazakhstan Oblast’s education administration; the staff of children’s homes Nos.1, 2, 3 and 4, the Bauyrzhan children’s home, Shymkent