Creating Safe Environments for Children in need of Foster Care
Creating Care aims to invest in the training and support of professionals and foster care families, and address the shortcomings in terms of support offered to foster families after the fostering process, and consequently to contribute to the process of deinstitutionalization.
Grant Agreement Number: KA220-ADU-CCFCCA61
Funded by: Erasmus+ Duration: 01/11/2021 – 01/11/2024
Challenge
According to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, all children should be provided with adequate living conditions for their physical, social, and mental development, in a positive family environment. Despite residential care measures being initially created to protect and provide for the needs of children, research has shown that institutional care has a negative impact on psychosocial development (OHCHR, 2011) and may be particularly dangerous for small children (UNICEF, 2011).
Also, foster care has a positive impact on the children such as the recovery of language, attachment, psychological adjustment, recovery of behavioral problems and symptoms of posttraumatic stress, academic performance, and employability (e.g., Nelson, Fox, & Zeanah, 2014; Ahmad et al., 2005). In the past decade, Europe has followed a policy of deinstitutionalization and the European Commission’s recommendation is to eradicate institutions for children, focusing on foster care measures (European Commission, 2013), especially in the case of children between 0 and 3 years old and children with fragile life paths (Eurochild, 2010).
In the light of the recommendation toward deinstitutionalization and the increased number of children living in residential institutions especially the unaccompanied children in Europe, there is a strong need to prepare and enable professionals on how to better deal, recruit and communicate with foster families considering their needs and the reality of the unaccompanied children.
Innovation
Creating Care aims to involve and profile foster care parents and unaccompanied children while building a training course for professionals to improve recruitment and communication skills as a step towards a higher number of unaccompanied children in foster care as a strategy for deinstitutionalization.
Action
Outputs
📄 Tool for Understanding Foster families’ needs, perceptions and experiences [GR]