Child care system reforms in Eastern and Central Europe and Central Asia: Why there is a need to focus on children below three years

UNICEF is supporting governments in Eastern and Central Europe and Central Asia to develop national child protection systems that effectively prevent and respond to violence, family separation and detention, including among most vulnerable groups. In particular, UNICEF supports child care reforms aiming at enforcing the right of children to live in a family environment. Ten years of complex reforms in the social sector were not translated into results for children as the rate of children placed in formal care has not declined during the last decade. In order to share a joint vision that every child must grow up in a nurturing family environment, UNICEF and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights launched at the European Parliament in July 2011a call to action to give priority to end the placement of children under three in institutions and prevent the separation of children from their families. At the end of 2012, 20 governments made commitments to adopt national operational plans for preventing the placement of children below three years in formal care. One year later, results can start to be identified and measured. Due primarily to the prompt and effective efforts of the governments of Bulgaria, Croatia, Kazakhstan, Serbia and Turkey, it is estimated that the number of children below three years in institutional care decreased by 10 per cent in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia by the end of 2013. This was achieved through diversified approaches described here. A long-lasting violation of the right of children to live in a family The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) states the priority that “the child, for the full and harmonious development of his or her personality, should grow up in a family environment” 1 and the guiding principle that “State parties shall ensure that a child shall not be separated from his or her parents against their will except when (...) such separation is necessary for the best interests of the child” 2 . At the same time, the region of Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CEE/CIS) is known to have some of the highest numbers in the world 3 of children growing up separated from their families. The total number of children who grow up in formal care in the region is estimated at 1.3 million, out of which 650,000 live in residential care. Of these children, some 200,000 have disabilities, and 30,000 are under the age of three. 4 1 UNCRC, Preamble. 2 Article 9 of the CRC 3UNICEF (2009), “At Home or in a Home”, p. 9 4TransMONEE database 2012 Child care system reforms in Eastern and Central Europe and Central 4 Asia: Why there is a need to focus on children below three years The high rates of separation in this region are to a large extent due to the legacy of systems inherited from the socialist regimes. Before transition, the paradigm of state-run systems of protection based on residential care dominated. Mind-sets based on the common belief that the state could easily substitute family life prevailed in policies and practice. Even if patterns differ slightly from one country to another, generally child care institutions in the region are catering for children with disabilities, with chronic diseases or behavioural problems, children from ethnic minorities, whose families became socially or economically vulnerable (single mothers, mothers who give birth to children out of wedlock, parents with mental illness etc.), and children with parents who are abusing alcohol, are dependent on drugs or are in prison. Stigma, discrimination and gender dynamics are also thought to be very influential indecisions about institutional placements. For example, high levels of poverty among single mothers or strong cultural norms of 'motherhood', combined with an absence of an efficient support system when a mother cannot meet the social expectations that are resting upon her, have been identified as root causes for baby abandonment and relinquishment. Overall, even if in some countries there are high levels of deprivation of parental rights that lead to the placing of children in the care system 5 , it is only a very small proportion of children that are placed in residential care because of violence in the family 6 . This means that very few children are actually separated from their parents because it is in their best interests: most children in formal care are there for reasons of poverty and absence of social protection mechanisms and services for families and children. Revelations of bad living conditions for children in residential care across the region in the 1990s, as well as changes in the child care paradigm calling for a shift from collective care and control to responses to individual needs and respect of rights, forced many actors to react and call for a reform of child care systems in the region. Reform of child care systems were undertaken in all countries of the region Supporting the reform of child care systems became a major priority for UNICEF in CEE/CIS from 2000 onwards and we have been involved in supporting reform processes in 22 countries of the region. The objectives of the reform were to give priority to supporting families and to move towards a progressive transition from institutional to community-based care. Beyond bringing changes to the child care system, it also required changing the mind-set of professionals and putting an end to the stigmatization of children with disabilities. Strategies and inputs to achieve results have been defined by governments, sometimes being a component of larger welfare and social protection system reform, sometimes with a focus on transforming or closing residential care institutions. Major progress was achieved in improving policy and legislative frameworks, introducing new services and changing the way services were standardized. Changes were implemented in financial flows and budgets for providing financial space for new services to be taken up in the public budget. Changes also occurred in the governance 5 For more information on causes of placement, see library on www.ceecis.org/ccc and among other following publications: UNICEF (2006) Child Abandonment in the Republic of Moldova, p. 39 UNICEF (2012) Analysis of the Situation of Children’s Institutions in the Republic of Kyrgyzstan, p. 30 UNICEF (2005) The situation of child abandonment in Romania, p. 29 6 UNICEF (2012) Children under the age of three in formal care in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, p. 64 5 Irish Journal of Applied Social Studies and quality assurance of the system to ensure better coordination, decision-making and quality assurance processes and mechanisms. A new modus operandi was promoted whereby 'gatekeeping' (the decision-making process and the provision of effective responses for children who have been separated or are at risk of separation from parental care) was identified as a core function of the state, with other service provision being carried out by private and public providers alike as long as there were clear rules of the game (e.g. standards, licencing mechanisms, inspections). The strongest policies take root in evidence and this work also required improved and more disaggregated data on most vulnerable children and on children placed in formal care to inform policy making. A number of countries are implementing policies directed at families, recognizing that they are the best nurturing and protective environment for a child. Progress has been made in defining the most suitable models of support, namely establishing parental leave entitlements, family benefits, and child-care support services complemented by other types of family welfare services. Progress at system level was not translated into changes in the lives of children Despite the remarkable social and economic changes and reforms that have swept through the region, most countries still heavily rely on the policy and practice of institutionalization. The worrisome finding, when analysing statistical data from the TransMonEE Database, which contains government data from 21 countries in the CEE/CIS region, is that although major progress has been achieved in the reform of child-care systems, these have not yet been translated into the capacity of social protection systems to prevent family separation. This is illustrated by the fact that the aggregated rate of children under the age of 18 in formal care has remained relatively stable since the year 2000; it has even increased in some countries due to demographic decline in child population. In several countries, children with disabilities represent as many as 60 per cent of all children in institutions. In some of the countries, disadvantaged ethnic minorities such as the Roma are significantly over-represented in child institutional care. At least 31,000 children below three years of age are in institutional care, only two to five per cent of these being orphans. Every hour, approximately two young children, mainly babies, are separated from their parents and sent into institutional care in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia. That is more than fifteen thousand children every year. This situation demonstrates the fact that vulnerable families are not being provided with the support they need by social protection systems (combining cash transfers, services and social work) in order to cope with the impact of the current economic crisis.What research is showing is that families which most need support are those facing the biggest obstacles when seeking government aid, and in many instances they are not even eligible for assistance. There are many reasons for this: some are related to unnecessary bureaucratic red tape, while others are more subtle, such as discrimination. To be unemployed or employed in the informal sector, to have migrated abroad and therefore lack a permanent address, can result not only in a low income but also in huge challenges to access government