Alternative Care for Children Around the Globe A desk review of the child welfare situation in all countries of the world Florence Koenderink Alternative Care for Children Around the Globe A desk review of the child welfare situation in all countries in the world Florence Koenderink Table of Contents Why Family-Based Solutions • Acknowledgements , p8 • Glossary, p9 • Abbreviations, p11 • Introduction, p12 5 • Methodology, p13 • Limitations, p18 • Country Information by Continent: Africa, p21: - Algeria - Liberia - Angola - Libya - Benin - Madagascar - Botswana - Malawi - Burkina Faso - Mali - Burundi - Mauritania - Cabo Verde - Mauritius - Cameroon - Morocco - Central African Republic - Mozambique - Chad - Namibia - Comoros - Niger - Congo (Democratic Republic of the) - Nigeria - Congo (Republic) - Rwanda - Côte D’Ivoire - São Tomè e Princípe - Djibouti - Senegal - Egypt - Seychelles - Equatorial Guinea - Sierra Leone - Eritrea - Somalia - Eswatini - South Africa - Ethiopia - South Sudan - Gabon - Sudan - The Gambia - Tanzania (United Republic of) - Ghana - Togo - Guinea - Tunisia - Guinea-Bissau - Uganda - Kenya - Zambia - Lesotho - Zimbabwe Copyright © Florence Koenderink 2019 The Americas, p133 All rights reserved - Antigua and Barbuda - Canada Why Family-Based Solutions - Argentina - Chile www.familybasedsolutions.org - Bahamas - Colombia - Barbados - Costa Rica Layout: Bert Koenderink - Belize - Cuba Cover photo: Florence Koenderink - Bolivia (Plurinational State of) - Dominica Editing: Tekstbureau Zoals het woord - Brazil - Domican Republic - Ecuador - Paraguay Europe, p355 - El Salvador - Peru - Albania - Luxembourg - Grenada - Saint Kitts and Nevis - Andorra - Macedonia (Former Yugoslav Republic of) - Guatemala - Saint Lucia - Austria - Malta - Guyana - Saint Vincent and the Grenadines - Belarus - Moldova - Haiti - Suriname - Belgium - Monaco - Honduras - Trinidad and Tobago - Bosnia and Herzegovina - Montenegro - Jamaica - United States of America - Bulgaria - The Netherlands - Mexico - Uruguay - Croatia - Norway - Nicaragua - Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) - Cyprus - Poland - Panama - Czech Republic - Portugal - Denmark - Romania Asia, p205 - Estonia - Russian Federation 6 - Finland - San Marino 7 - Afghanistan - Malaysia - France - Serbia - Armenia - Maldives - Germany - Slovakia - Azerbaijan - Mongolia - Greece - Slovenia - Bahrain - Myanmar - Hungary - Spain - Bangladesh - Nepal - Iceland - Sweden - Bhutan - Oman - Ireland - Switzerland - Brunei Darussalam - Pakistan - Italy - Ukraine - Cambodia - Papua New Guinea - Latvia - United Kingdom of Great Britain - China (People’s Republic of) - Philippines - Liechtenstein and Northern Ireland - Georgia - Qatar - Lithuania - India - Saudi Arabia - Indonesia - Singapore • References, p449 - Iran (Islamic Republic of) - Sri Lanka - Iraq - Syrian Arab Republic - Israel - Tajikistan - Japan - Thailand - Jordan - Timor D’Este - Kazakhstan - Turkey - Korea (Democratic People’s Republic of) - Turkmenistan - Korea (Republic of) - United Arab Emirates - Kuwait - Uzbekistan - Kyrgyzstan - Viet Nam - Lao (People’s Democratic Republic) - Yemen - Lebanon Australia and Oceania, p321 - Australia - Niue - Cook Islands - Palau - Fiji - Samoa - Kiribati - Solomon Islands - Marshall Islands - Tonga - Micronesia (Federated States of) - Tuvalu - Nauru - Vanuatu - New Zealand Glossary Acknowledgements Albinism: A congenital condition where pigmentation Extended family: The nuclear family plus aunts, un- is lacking from the entire body, leading to a very pale cles, grandparents and cousins. Not surprisingly for a research project of this scale, I have many people to thank for pointing skin, white hair and eyes that are very sensitive to Family-based care: Care for children without parental me to valuable resources or for gathering information for me themselves. In particular, I would light. 8 9 like to thank Dr Ronald Federici, Charlotte Woellwarth of UNICEF UK, Adriana Espinosa Giraldo care in a family or family-like environment. Alternative care: Formal and informal care of children of Lumos Foundation, Manon Stravens, Salma Jaouni, Ahmad Shatat, and Mary Grace Rigueur. Family support: Various measures taken, and commu- without parental care. This includes kinship care, I am grateful to Tanya Lee and Micole Joory for answering my questions about their countries. nity services made available, by the state to prevent foster care, other forms of family-based or family- I also want to thank Bert Koenderink, both for pointing out useful articles and for doing the the abandonment of children and to prevent the like care placements, supervised independent living layout of this report. need to deprive parents of their parental rights for arrangements for older children, and residential care the protection of the child. I would like to add a big thank you to all the people and organisations that have invested facilities. time, effort and resources to conducting research, writing reports – and making them publicly Fatwa: A non-binding ruling on a point of Islamic law Children: Girls and boys under the age of 18 years. available – about children who need to be seen but are often forgotten about. And to all the by a recognised authority. governments and organisations that are working tirelessly to make sure that more children are Children without parental care: Children who for Food insecurity: Regularly being unsure where the able to live and grow up with their own families or, if that is not possible, in another family. In whatever reason are not receiving overnight care next meal will come from or when the next meal will particular UNICEF, SOS Children’s Villages, Lumos Foundation, Disability Rights International, from at least one of their parents. Child Rights International Network, the European Commission, and CELCIS. be. Child trafficking: The sale of children or the removal Formal care: Care provided for children without of children from their families with the aim of exploit- parental care under the supervision of the relevant ing them. authorities, this can be family-based or in a residen- Committee (the): Always used with a capital C, indi- tial institutional setting. cates the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. Foster care: Care that is the result of authorities plac- Confiage: Placing a child with relatives who are ing children in a family other than the one they were wealthier in order to ensure food and education. born in, sometimes with relatives, sometimes with strangers. This can be short-term or long-term. Corporal punishment: Discipline measures that in- clude inflicting pain or deprivation of food or rest. Full adoption: Adoption that places a child perma- nently in a new family, taking on their family name CRC report: Report submitted to the UN Committee and acquiring all the rights of a biological child, while on the Rights of the Child by a country. all ties to the biological family of the child are sev- Customary adoption: Informal adoption, without the ered. involvement of the state or the court, according to Guardianship: When parents are unable to take traditional rules. parental responsibility for their child, or when the De facto: What is in fact happening – possibly contra- court has removed their parental rights, the court can ry to what should be happening according to policies appoint another person as the child’s guardian. This or laws. person is then responsible for making decisions about the child and protecting the child’s best interest. Deinstitutionalisation: Moving alternative care towards family-based care, through prevention of Hukou: A personal registration number given to peo- children being institutionalised, building up family- ple in China, needed for access to education, health- based care alternatives and removing children from care etc. institutions to be reunited with their own families or Inclusive education: Education in which children with to be placed in family-based care. and without disabilities attend mainstream schools Domestic adoption: Adoption within the country, by together, with necessary adjustments made and as- citizens of the country. sistance provided to ensure that children with special education needs are able to participate as fully as possible. Abbreviations Informal care: Any private arrangement provided in a Privately run: An institution run by a non-government AIDS: Acquired Immuno-Deficiency Syndrome family environment, in which the child is looked after entity, such as an NGO, a faith-based organisation or ART: Anti-Retroviral Therapy (medication against HIV) by relatives or friends, at the initiative of the parents private individuals. or family members, without the involvement of the CRC: UN Committee on the Rights of the Child 10 Residential care: Care provided in a group setting that 11 authorities. is not family-based, including both small group homes EMBS: Ethnic Minority Boarding School (the primary form of institutionalisation in Lao) Indigent: Poor, destitute. and large-scale institutions. This can be used as a temporary emergency measure, or as a long-term Excl.: Excluding Institutional care: Care that involves children being placement. looked after in a state-run or private institution with DI: Deinstitutionalisation a large capacity, staffed by salaried caregivers or vol- Simple adoption: Adoption that places a child with Govt.: Government unteers, based on collective living arrangements with a new family, with all the rights of a biological child, inflexible rules and routines. without severing