CHILD’S
RIGHT TO A FAMILY: PROMOTING FOSTER CARE AND ALTERNATIVE PROGRAMMES FOR CHILD
PROTECTION IN
子どもが家族を持つ権利
インド ニリーナ・メータ
Children constitute the most vulnerable section
of society and are considered a supremely important asset of our nation.
Socio-economic circumstances of a family often result in family crisis and
disintegration resulting in child destitution. Institutional care leads to
uprooting and separation of the child from his family environment. The negative
and painful experiences in large, de-personalised institutions may also result
in the “Institutional Child Syndrome”, with long-term emotional, psychological
and adjustment problems. The cost of child care in an institution also far
outweighs its advantages compared to family based alternatives. Hence it is
better to provide financial support to families in crisis through alternate
family-based and community-oriented alternatives, so that the child can be
looked after within a family environment rather than in institutions.
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of
the Child (UNCRC) which
Adoption
Adoption is the best non-institutional service
for the orphaned, destitute child since it provides permanent substitute care
in a family. The biological family should be supported and preserved wherever
possible and no child should be deprived of care by biological parents solely
because of economic need.
When the
biological parents relinquish a child permanently, due to circumstances beyond
their control, an adoptive family would be the best alternative for the
destitute child. Prior to adoption, several formalities need to be completed in
order to ensure that the child will receive physical, emotional and financial
security in the new home. Pre-adoption counselling prepares a couple to be
emotionally ready for adoptive parenthood.
Since a child
adjusts best within his own socio-cultural milieu, rehabilitation through
In-country adoptions would be the first option after which Inter-country
adoptions could be considered for the orphaned child. An urgent review of all
orphans and destitute children in the institutions should be undertaken for
permanent rehabilitation through adoption, so that children do not languish in
an institution, indefinitely.
Foster Care
Foster Care
provides temporary or long term, substitute care in a foster family for
children, whose parents are unable to care for them due to illness, death,
desertion of one parent or any other crisis situation. It could also be a
service for prevention of abandonment to the single, unwed mother who does not
want to give up her child irrevocably in adoption but needs support for a
temporary period. In foster care, the child is placed in another family for a
short or extended period of time, depending upon circumstances. The child’s
birth parents usually visit regularly and eventually after the rehabilitation,
they may return to their own homes.
Whilst locating a
foster home, it is important to assess the suitability, competence and
motivation of the foster parents and the home must be as close as possible to
the child’s ethnic, socio-cultural and economic background. This compatibility
facilitates the process of adjustment and the transition from the natural home
to the foster home and vice versa so that the emotional trauma for the child is
minimised. The Foster Care Scheme must provide financial support to the foster
family in order to care for the child as well as support to the natural parents
towards rehabilitation so that they may take the child back when possible.
Sponsorship
The Sponsorship
Programme is currently recognised as one of the most effective programmes to
provide additional financial support to families who are unable to meet
educational and other needs of their children. The sponsorship assistance meets
the educational, medical, nutritional and other needs of their children and
improves the general quality of life.
The unique feature
of sponsorship is that the child is not taken away from the family and
continues to enjoy the security of a family environment that is necessary for
healthy growth. To work with the family as a unit is a very effective approach
in sponsorship.
Through the
process of education, the families are empowered to become independent and
long-term rehabilitation plans are also worked out for sustainable development.
There are various modalities for implementation of this programme like the
Individual to Individual sponsorship, Group sponsorship or Community
sponsorship.
Day-Care /
Night-Care Shelter
Day-Care /
Night-Care is a related service to foster care where the child is placed in a
foster family only during the day or night, as in the case of working mothers
or single parents, for the time they are at work. This scheme helps to keep
“families at risk” together and who might otherwise have considered full time
foster placement or institutionalisation of the child. The NGOs could provide
this kind of service by locating families in the neighbourhood who are willing
to provide day care facilities and co-ordinate the two. The children can also
be looked after in groups as in crèches, day-care centres or night shelters.
Family Assistance
This service is
especially useful for families “at risk” to help them overcome temporary crisis
situations like unemployment or serious family illness that may lead to family
breakdown. The goal of all family welfare interventions is to enhance the
capacity of the family towards being self-reliant. This scheme provides the
families with opportunities for self-employment so that through income-generating
schemes, they become financially independent (e.g. vegetable vendors, tailors,
cobblers, small home-based business etc.). This is one more scheme that
provides support to a family at risk and prevents institutionalisation of
children due to economic pressures.
Community Centres
(Juvenile Guidance Bureaus Family Counselling Centres And Child Guidance
Clinics)
Vulnerability and
the consequent destitution of children is high in the urban slums and in the
lower socio-economic strata. Community-based, outreach services like
Counselling Centres, Child Guidance Clinics, Juvenile Guidance Bureaus, Family
Service Centres are set up so that communities have easy access to assistance
and guidance. These multi-purpose counselling centres are very effective in
controlling juvenile crime, family break-ups and institutionalisation of
children.
Counselling
Counselling is the most integral, intangible
component of all the non-institutional services. By providing the necessary
emotional support, families who are “at risk” are helped to mobilise their own
strengths to cope with crisis situations so that they do not seek
institutionalisation of children as a solution to the problem. The counselling
service gives them a sense of reassurance that when their own coping mechanisms
fail to function effectively, professional intervention will help them tide
over the crisis.
Juvenile
Justice (Care and Protection) Act 2000
The Juvenile
Justice Act, 2000 has provisions to ensure the child’s right to a nurturing family
and environment. This legal provision in this act provides for the development
of the foster care programme and ensures protection of the child who is in a
vulnerable situation.
The Act states as
follows:
-has threatened to
kill or injure the child and there is a reasonable likelihood of the threat
being carried out, or
-has killed,
abused or neglected some other child or children and there is a reasonable
likelihood of the child in question being killed, abused or neglected by that
person,
“Process of rehabilitation
and social reintegration:- The rehabilitation and social reintegration of a
child shall begin during the stay of the child in a children's home or special
home and the rehabilitation and social reintegration of children shall be
carried out alternatively by (i) adoption, (ii)
foster care, (iii) sponsorship, and (iv) sending the child to an after-care
Organisation.”
“Foster care:- (1) The foster care may be used for temporary
placement of those infants who are ultimately to be given for adoption.
(2) In foster care, the child may be placed in another family for a short or
extended period of time, depending upon the circumstances where the child's own
parent usually visit regularly and eventually after the rehabilitation, where
the children may return to their own homes.
(3) The State Government may make rules for the purposes of carrying out the
scheme of foster care programme of children.”
“Restoration:- (1)
Restoration of and protection to a child shall be the prime objective of any
children's home or the shelter home.
(2) The children's home or a shelter home, as the case may be, shall take such
steps as are considered necessary for the restoration of and protection to a
child deprived of his family environment temporarily or permanently where such
child is under the care and protection of a children's home or a shelter home,
as the case may be.
(3) The Committee shall have the powers to restore any child in need of care
and protection to his parent, guardian, and fit person or fit institution, as
the case may be, and give them suitable directions.
Explanation:- For the purposes of this section "restoration of
child" means restoration to-
(a) parents;
(b) adopted parents;
(c) foster parents”
Foster Care
in
Foster care is a child welfare service that
provides temporary or long term care in a substitute family for children who
are not legally free for adoption, but whose own natural / biological parents
are unable to care for them due to severe crisis, death, desertion, illness or
any other condition that endangers the best interest of the child. The primary
focus of child welfare intervention is the prevention of family disintegration
and protecting the Right of the child to be brought up in a nurturing secure
family environment. Recognizing the child’s right to a family, it should be
ensured that during a temporary crisis or unavoidable circumstances, if the
child cannot live with his family of origin / birth, then the next best
alternative would be a substitute foster family which is as close in nature and
socio-cultural background as his own natural home. Traditionally, the “Children
in Need of Care and Protection (CNCP)” in
The
objective of the foster care programme is to provide temporary or long term
care in a substitute family for children who are not legally free for adoption,
but whose own parents are unable to care for them due to severe family crisis,
death, desertion by one parent, illness or any other condition that is
endangering the welfare of the child. The objective of the scheme is also to
eventually reunite the child with his own family when the family circumstances
improve. It aims at preventing institutionalization of children in especially
difficult circumstances by providing care in a substitute family.
Types of
Foster Care
·
Pre Adoptive Foster Care
·
With prospective adoptive parents
who intend to adopt the child
·
Foster Care for children awaiting
adoption
·
With foster parents, in the interim
period between relinquishment / abandonment and adoption
·
Short Term Foster Care
·
During crisis situations in the
family
·
Long Term Foster Care
·
For the child who is not legally
free for adoption
·
Children of single parents in crisis
situations
·
Foster Day Care / Night Care
·
For single / working parent
·
Care only during day or night
·
Group Homes
·
Care of children in group homes with
a maximum of six children
Important
Aspects of Foster Care
·
Foster care is a family oriented,
community based, preventive, non-institutional service for children and
families in difficult circumstances.
·
Ensures the Right of the Child to a
Family.
·
Prevents institutionalisation of
children.
·
Facilitates deinstitutionalisation
of children.
·
Aims at reuniting the child with his
birth family when the family circumstances improve, and if that is not
possible, then identifying other suitable forms of rehabilitation for the
child.
Programme components
Identifying,
Assessing the Suitability of a Foster Family
·
Identifying and motivating the
relatives or extended family members of the child to become foster parents is
important in the Indian context, due to kinship ties. If this is not possible,
then families in the neighbourhood or any unrelated foster families, whose
socio-cultural environment is similar to the child’s own family of birth should
be considered. The child welfare agency must make efforts to identify and
recruit foster families who are well motivated, sensitive to the needs of
children and have experience in child care. Compatibility of the foster family
and foster child should be taken into consideration at the time of selection
and assessment of the foster family. A foster family preferably should not
foster more than two children at a time unless it is a sibling group. It is
essential to prepare a Home Study Report of every foster family based on the
format for the Home Study of a foster family.
Eligibility
of Children
·
Orphan / Destitute children who are
not legally free for adoption or who cannot be adopted
·
Children of single parents who might
otherwise consider institutionalisation
·
Children with special needs and from
families who are “at risk” of disintegrating or in severe crisis
·
Children who are already in institutions
but who can be reinstated / restored into their won families
(Deinstitutionalisation)
·
The age of the Children eligible for
foster care could be 0-18
Placement,
Financial Support, Counselling and Supervision
The child,
the birth parents and the foster family should receive adequate preparation
prior to placement of the child in foster care. The foster parents will be
responsible for providing a nurturing family environment for the child. They
would receive a monthly grant for this purpose for a planned period to be
reviewed from time to time. The foster family will receive ongoing counselling
and supervision during the period of foster care. The agency will maintain
regular follow up of the foster placement.
Rehabilitation
of birth parents
If the child
has birth parents, the final goal is to restore the child back to his parent /
family of origin. All efforts should be made to provide support for
rehabilitation of the biological parent / family so that the child returns to
his family at the earliest.
Awareness
creation and community participation
Suitable
awareness programmes should be undertaken with a view to encourage more
families to come forward to offer foster care services. Create awareness in the
community regarding the need and value of foster care as a non-institutional
service.
Training,
Orientation and
Orientation
Training and capacity building programmes for prospective foster families is
essential, in order to ensure the quality of child care and understand the
needs of foster children. In-service training and orientation of social workers
is also essential, in order to implement the scheme effectively and upgrade
their knowledge and skills in managing the foster care programme.
Eligibility of the NGO
The Foster
Care Scheme could be implemented by any registered voluntary social child
welfare organization having sufficient experience in family and child welfare
programmes. The NGO could be a residential institution or an agency having
non-institutional services but must have professionally qualified social
workers, and adequately trained staff for the effective implementation of the
Foster Care Programme.
Composition and functions of Foster Care committee
Every NGO
undertaking foster care programme shall constitute a Foster Care Committee
comprising of two representatives of the agency undertaking the project, the
social worker implementing the project, a senior professional social worker
from the field of child welfare and a government representative from the Department
of Women and Child Development.
Mechanism for implementation
a) The
agency implementing the scheme may receive referrals of children from the Government appointed Child Welfare
Committee under the Juvenile Justice Act of 2000, or children in institutions,
with a view to deinstitutionalise them, or children directly identified by the
agency from the community.
b) Every
six months the agency shall submit to the Directorate of Women and Child
Development, the following:-
1) Utilization
certificate of the grant received.
2) Supervisory
follow up report of each child
3) Consolidated
statement of the children in foster care
c) Finally, it is most important
to assess the suitability,
competence and motivation
of the foster parents, and ensure that foster
family is as close as possible to the child’s ethnic, socio-cultural and
economic background. This compatibility facilitates the process of adjustment
and the transition from the birth family to the foster home and vice versa, so
that emotional trauma for the child is minimised. The Foster Care Scheme must
provide adequate financial support to the foster family in order to care for
the child as well as support to the birth parents towards rehabilitation so
that they may take the child back, when possible.
Monitoring,
Supervision and Follow-up
Regular Supervision and Follow-up are important
components of the Foster Care Programme, to ensure its effective implementation
and ensure that the child is happy and well adjusted in the foster home.
Termination
and Evaluation
When the birth family is suitably rehabilitated
and in a position to receive the child back, the foster care can be terminated.
A regular evaluation and impact study of the Foster Care Programme must be
undertaken to study its effectiveness.
Learnings from existing Foster Care
Programmes
When we look at the international scenario on
Foster Care, there are many experiences that need to be used as “Lessons
Learnt” from the implementation of Foster Care Services around the world and in
·
A Foster Care Programme can be
successful only if there is clarity on the concept and practice of Foster Care,
and there are adequate supporting professional staff available for the
effective implementation.
·
Very thorough assessment of the
prospective foster families is necessary to ensure that their motivation to
foster is not mainly for financial reasons, but they definitely have a positive
and sincere motivation to care for vulnerable children.
·
Sometimes there is resistance from
traditional structures like residential homes for children and they are not
open to accepting foster care, as it would lead to reduced number of children
in their institutions.
·
It is also not easy to find and
recruit families who will be willing to take children with special needs, or
children with serious behavioural problems.
·
Lack of adequate budget / government
resource allocation for family based programmes like foster care programme is a
major deterrent for the promotion of this programme. The grant to foster
families is inadequate to care for the child.
·
Child’s Right to Participation needs
to be also respected, and children need to be consulted in the selection of
families and also the duration of foster care in order to have successful
foster placements.
·
Need Based selection of foster families
is also very important so that children in special situations like disasters or
in armed conflict, are not uprooted from their natural environment.
·
In long term foster care there is
also the issue of entitlement to family property and inheritance, and the
child’s legal status remains ambiguous in these conditions.
·
There are also issues from the
government on appropriate utilisation of foster care grants, difficulties of
monitoring and supervision of foster homes, because this is relatively
difficult when compared to supervision of children in residential institutions.
·
Due to wide socio-cultural
differences, and traditional family structures, families are not easily
motivated to look after unrelated children from different backgrounds.
·
There is not adequate public
awareness about the Foster Care Programmes and hence not many families come
forward to be foster carers.
·
There is often need for clarity of
roles and functions of various stake holders in the programme so that everyone
is able to fulfil their respective responsibilities.
For a foster
care programme to be successful, it is important to address some of the above
issues.
Conclusion
A paradigm
shift from the “Welfare” to the “Developmental”, from the “Needs” to the “Rights”
and from “Institutional Care” to “Family Based Alternative Care” are
significant changes in intervention strategies for “Families at Risk” and
“Children in Need of Care and Protection” (CNCP). The rehabilitation of
abandoned and destitute children through residential care has been the practice
so far, but the emphasis in future should be on developing family based
alternatives and ensuring the child’s Right to a Family.