“Foster Partnerships –
International Experiences”
A Paper by
President of the
International Foster Care Organisation.
“Foster
Partnerships – International Experiences”
「里子養育の連携と国際的な経験」
「アジア子供の権利と里親会議2006」来賓挨拶。
Keith Henderson
President of the International Foster Care Organisation.
ソウル、韓国 − ２００６年９月１６日。
キース・ヘンダーソン
国際里子養育機構IFCO会長
Good
morning ladies and gentlemen and straightaway let me thank you most sincerely
for inviting me here today to speak at your conference on Child Rights and
Foster Care.
Let
me also congratulate you on your conference. I am impressed with the array of quality
speakers you have here and this reflects positively on the Korean Foster Care
Association and those in the community and Government that support you in your
work.
Let
me tell you a small bit about myself.
As you can see from the grey hair, I am not in the full flush of
youth! In the context
of the family, I am a married man who is retired from an insurance
company. My wife, Ruth and I are
foster parents who are retired but we fostered children short term and long
term for 20 years. We have a foster
son who is out of the care system and who we have legally adopted. In
I
think that it is also important to set the scene by telling you a little bit
about the history of IFCO – the International Foster Care Organisation. IFCO is the only international
organisation working exclusively in the area of foster care. It was founded in 1981 so this year we celebrate
our 25th birthday. It
was at a conference in The
-
to inform about foster care
-
to promote and encourage the development of this branch of Social
Work
-
to bring the Foster Care system to a higher level
-
to defend the right of every child to family life without loss of
the child’s own identity and history.
Our
mission statement today is: “IFCO
promotes family based care solutions for ‘out of home’ children in accordance
with the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child by:
IFCO
believes that foster care must be an inclusive teamwork effort between carers,
social workers, the placing agencies, the birth parent, the child/young person
and others who contribute to the child’s welfare. In accordance with the UNCRC we say that
respect for diversity is essential
Experience must be valued. The organisation is always open to new
ideas. Above all IFCO believes that
care should be child centred and family focussed. All our work centres around benefiting
the child in care.
Partnership can mean different things to
different people. For the purposes
of this paper, I am talking about a group or groups of people or organisations
who are working and sharing together for a common good.
It
is in this context therefore that I would like to share with you some of the
detail of the work that IFCO is involved in with others to illustrate how
partnership is working in the field of foster care.
Firstly,
though, I thought it would be interesting to tell you a little about foster
care in
At
that time the Irish Foster Care Association had been lobbying the government on
various issues like support and services. The association had successfully
made a bid to host an IFCO conference in
Nowadays,
apart from the protecting legislation for children and young people there are
published national standards for foster care and an independent social services
inspectorate to ensue the standards are met and maintained. There is a separate
ministry for children that spans education, justice and health. There is also an ombudsman for children
and there is even a parliament for children.
So
how does all this happen in a short space of time? The answer is that there was willingness
and a commitment to face the issues and to share and work with people who are
experts. It was
also about building relationships and trust. But most of all it recognises that
children are the future.
According to statistics,
HIV/AIDS has caused havoc to families globally and is having a devastating
impact on the world’s youngest and most vulnerable citizens. An estimated 20 million people have
already died from the disease worldwide and some 40 million people are living
with HIV/AIDS today. This situation
is worse in sub-Sahara
One of the most troubling
consequences of the epidemic’s growing reach is the number of children it has
orphaned. Statistics has it that
some 13 million children under the age of 15 years have lost one or both
parents to HIV/AIDS related deaths, most of them in sub-Saharan
The major issues affecting
these orphaned and vulnerable children are disinheritance, early marriage,
school drop out, discrimination, stigmatization, inability to access health and
education because of poverty and responsibilities related to bringing up other
siblings, among others. Child abuse, neglect, exploitation and trafficking are
sadly other issues on the agenda of priorities regarding the children affected
by HIV/AIDS.
IFCO advocates for the
support of alternative community- and family-based solutions for the children
affected, directly or indirectly, by HIV/AIDS. This calls for:
-
The will to promote and improve the family-based solutions for
children orphaned or abandoned : extended family placement, community
placement, foster care as best solutions for the children, provided that the
needs and rights of the children are fulfilled
-
The development of support, training, monitoring services for those
family-based solutions, to prevent abuse, neglect or exploitation of orphaned
and vulnerable children
-
The development of specific services and allowances for child-headed
households
-
Limiting the residential and institutionalised care to temporary
solutions
-
The support of social services development in communities
-
The development of local networks of foster and kin carers
-
The development of regional and international networks to facilitate
local initiatives and capacity-building, through the exchange of good practices
and lessons learnt
-
The advocacy and lobbying to achieve these goals locally, nationally
and internationally.
IFCO,
in cooperation with local partners, develops projects to support families and
children in need in-country. In
And
it does not end there - the Caribbean is also an area of serious concern as it
is second after
But
let me give you some good news. In
2004, three NGOs in
IFCO
have also been working in cooperation with the Dutch Ministry for Welfare and
Care and the Romanian Government.
The objective of this project is the assessment of the current status of
the maternal assistance (foster care) network in
Also
in Romania, we have been providing technical assistance to develop a training
curricula for child protection committees throughout the country on the
implications of the UNCRC and the Educational Campaign on Family Issues and
Children’s Rights in Romania.
The curricula are developed for mixed professional groups and local
social workers to support the de-institutionalisation process and the
implementation of the new developed legislation on children’s rights. A good practice guide has been produced
and a guide describing the methodology for provision of preventative services
for local social workers. Advice is given on the awareness campaign and uses
materials and methodology for raising the awareness of the general public and
the promotion of the rights of Children for professionals in the field.
On
the educational side, IFCO, as the international partner, is involved with
others from Sweden, United Kingdom, Austria, Poland and Italy in the
development of a European vocational education for trainers of foster carers; a
train the trainer competence development package. Input is provided in the development of
the training curriculum, accreditation of the package and the training of the
trainers. Testing and
co-operation with partners in Central and
We
have a policy to develop Networks and see this as critical to the development
of foster care and foster care services globally.
We
have formed a network in
In 2003 the IFCO conference in
We need to raise awareness in a country like Argentina
where there are 12 million children (35% of the population) and where 7 out of
every 10 are poor; where around 70 children die per day due to evitable
causes; where the distribution of wealth is 1 to 44; where almost half of the
country lives below the poverty line.
In this context, we need to support children's rights more
than ever and this can only be done through partnership and cooperation.
Closer to home you will know of the important cooperation
between IFCO and the KFCA in 2004 and 2005. The cooperation reflected the concluding
observations on
One
of the ways that this can start to happen is the establishment of a network of
organisations and individuals in the
I
know a young man who was taken into long term foster care when he was three
months old. He is now 21 years old
and still lives with his foster family although he is now adopted by them. This young man grew up with low
self esteem , he never did know his father but did meet his mother who was
mentally handicapped. He
rebelled during his teenage years and got involved with a drug culture. His foster family and the social work
team still supported him although he was difficult and on occasions
violent. He ran away for a period
of time and his foster family and the social work team still supported
him. Gradually he changed and
agreed to complete his education.
It was then that he heard that his mother had died accidentally in a
fire in her apartment. It was then
that he met many of his hitherto unknown relations for the first time at his
mother’s funeral. He still received
support from his foster family and the social work team. He is now a qualified motor mechanic and
will tell you if you ask that the girl he
marries will need to be someone who is prepared to be a foster
parent. He grew up saying to
himself “I was born not to make it” but now would add to that ‘but I did”. This is a success story and a
tribute to everyone (including the young man) working together in partnership
and understanding. How do I know
all this – well this young man is Joseph my son.
IFCO
is working hard locally and internationally in a spirit of partnership and
cooperation to improve the rights of children particularly those in foster
care. You can help by joining our
organisation and being part of the
September
2006.