CarINg, the wellbeing of children in protection systems

Location Comune di Firenze, Hospitalet de Llobregat

Duration February 2019 – February 2021

Framework Empowering Child Care Systems and Supporting Leaving Care from Inside – CarINg

Fund EU Call for proposals for action grants under 2018 Rights, Equality and Citizenship (REC) work programme

Context

The protection and the promotion of children’s well-being are fundamental to guarantee the rights of the child and prevent future scenarios of poverty and social exclusion. The Municipalities of Florence and Hospitalet de Llobregat (Spain) support vulnerable families to prevent that their socio-economic difficulties translate into neglect of children’s needs.

Despite the efforts and the implementation of innovative programs such as P.I.P.P.I., social services face increasingly complex situations where parental negligence is intertwined with situations of suffering, marginality and isolation.

Social workers have to cope with complex situations of poverty, delicate situations where the migration background challenges standard models of intervention and requires an appropriate training as a cultural mediator; and finally situations in which careleavers find themselves in difficulty.

Indeed, the leaving process has become an increasingly complex moment, as boys and girls suddenly find themselves without a support network.

In this framework, it is necessary to equip social services with new approaches, trainings and operational tools that place children’s wellbeing at the center.

General Objective

The aim of the project CarINg is to contribute towards the development of regional/local government strategic & professional capacities to understand and integrate a child-based approach to their work, improve the quality of support for and protect the rights of children living in alternative care, with a special focus on early preparing, facilitating, and accompanying them during and after the leaving process

What have we done?

♦ Research-action with the main stakeholders to analyze current practices and procedures related to foster care at the local level

♦ Analysis of good practices at international level in the context of:

  • ♢ Prevention systems
  • ♢ Foster care systems (in families or residential structures)
  • ♢ Leaving process from the protection system

ARCO Researchers will be in charge of the development of a training program and a child wellbeing assessment tool based on the Capability Approach.

Read more on our Inclusive Development Unit