Transcript Community based services for children at risk in Albania d A EveryChild Albania EveryChild Albania was established in 1998 with the support from EveryChild UK, an.

Community based services for
children at risk in Albania
d
A
EveryChild Albania
EveryChild Albania was established in
1998 with the support from EveryChild
UK, an international child focused charity
based in London
We are a non-profit, non-religious
organisation aiming at promoting and
providing support to the reform of social
services for vulnerable families and
children in Albania
We recognise the strong tradition of
family and extended family networks in
Albania and works to support the
structure to care for children within the
context of a changing political, social and
economic environment
Since 1998 we have worked to support
the development of a broad range of
social services by demonstrating models
of
good
practice
and
adapt
methodologies based on international
standards to meet particular needs of
Albanian culture, values and traditions
Our overall mission is to ensure the
provision of community based social
welfare services for children, including
a commitment to their development and
education in a family setting, ideally in
their own immediate or extended family
and where this is not possible in an
alternative family environment
The Profile of Children at Risk
An estimated 33% of children in Albania live below
the poverty line and 18.5% of the total population
survive on less than US$ 2 per day.
Most children are abandoned
by their parents as a
consequence of growing
poverty, weak social safety
nets and ongoing conflict and
instability in the family. This
is placing families under
stress, often resulting in
breakdown, divorce,
migration from rural areas to
the major cities and
immigration
Poverty is most prevalent among the children of
Roma and Egyptian population groups and internal
migrants - especially in female headed households
with three or more children. Most of these children
are not registered at birth, which excludes them
from receiving any social service benefits.
Some 1200 children are currently registered as
neglected by their parents. About 450 are placed in
public residential institutions, 580 in residential
homes, 168 children are placed with foster families
and 54 children are adopted (2006)
Only 3% of the children placed in public residential
institutions are biological orphans. Of the majority,
about 60% derive from extreme poverty, 35% were
abandoned by birth and 5% are placed in care as a
result of child trafficking and child labour.
The Child Welfare System in Albania
The Albanian Government spends 6% of GDP
on social protection, 3.5% on education and
2.4% on health. These figures are among the
lowest in the region.
A system of 18 Government institutions (9
orphanages and 9 specialised day care
centres) is offering residential and day care
services for children across the country
Various specialised services are offered by
licensed NGOs to children with social
problems. These NGOs are mainly funded by
foreign financial aid
A network of 47 community based services are
delivered by municipal governments across
the country with support from the World Bank.
20 of those services are exclusively targeting
children
It is a well-known fact that
institutional care is harmful to
children and to society. However
social services for families that
could help prevent child
abandonment are for the most part
unavailable, leaving the parent with
few alternatives to giving up their
child
The Community Multidisciplinary Centre for Children
and Families in Tirana
What are the alternatives to residential care and how do we
help to prevent family breakdown that leads to child
abandonment and separation?
The Multidisciplinary Centre was set up in Tirana Municipality in Nov 2005 to service
vulnerable and hard to reach families and children
The services are delivered under the direct responsibility of the Municipality of Tirana with
support from the World Bank and in coordination with EveryChild Albania - contracted to
deliver the multidisciplinary services
The service provision is based on models of preventative social work to support families
threatened by breakdown, and the reintegration of institutionalised children with their
biological families as well as pioneering foster care services
The demonstration of services have had a great impact not only on improving the lives of
children, but also on influencing child welfare reform in Albania policy by raising awareness
among decision makers of the multidisciplinary centre as a preventive mechanism and a real
alternative to residential care
The service provision
The Multi-disciplinary Centre provide qualified tailor-made
assistance to children, young people, women and families at risk to
improve their social status, individual wellbeing and quality of life
Through the services we aim to:
 improve the psychosocial situation of our clients through provision of psychological
and social services
improve the health situation of our clients through the provision of medical
consultations
improve the economic situation of our clients through provision of job counselling,
vocational training and mediation between client an possible employers
alleviate the resolving process of different legal issues through provision of legal aid
improve the welfare of children, biological/social orphans through provision of pilot
foster care services
 integrate children at risk into preschool systems and promote inclusive education for
children with minor disabilities through provision of information, training, awareness
raising and support services for parents and educators
Challenges and Lessons Learned
The establishment of the
multidisciplinary centres is an
important step for the
implementation of our social
service reform, including
decentralisation of service
provision from central to
municipal Government level
Based on lessons learned from
EveryChild Albania, persisting
challenges are:
 The necessary collaboration with
various structures of Local
Government is not always as
effective as needed and is often not
pared with promised local
investment
Clients often expect financial aid
when they come to the service as
this is what they get from many
other service providing NGOs
 An essential aim is related to job
counselling, helping the client to find
a work – this Is difficult due to the
general restricted opportunities at
the Albanian job market
The EvC Global/Regional Focus
• Prevent children from being separated
from their families by offering support,
guidance and family-based solutions.
• Reintegrate children who have been
separated from their families back into their
biological or extended care. Where this is
not possible we develop family-based
solutions like foster and kinship care.
• Offer social rehabilitation services for
children living and working on the street, as
well as abused or maltreated children and
their families.
• Offer treatment and rehabilitation for
children with disabilities, and much needed
respite care for families.
Any Questions?