Summary:

Child Rights, the Role of Families and Alternative Care Policies Developments, Trends and Challenges in Europe.

www.coe.int/t/cm/home_en.asp

http://www.crin.org/docs/CoE_Conference_Agenda.doc

States Parties to the CRC still face serious difficulties regarding care provision for children in informal or formal fostering, including kinship care and adoption, or residential facilities. The CRC includes a number of articles which serve to make clear States’ obligations to support families in their role, and to remove children from parental care only if certain conditions are met. On the other hand, the Convention also requires States Parties to ensure appropriate substitute care for all children who are without parental care for whatever reason.

Despite the thorough attention to this topic within the Convention, and the existence of certain supplementary instruments which provide further guidance on some of the areas covered, the Committee on the Rights of the Child has called during 2004 for the development of “United Nations Guidelines for the Protection of Children without Parental Care”.

Moreover, the last General Discussion Day of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (held on 16^th September 2005) debated the issue of “Children without parental care”. Also the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers adopted in 2005 a Recommendation on the rights of children living in residential institutions”. The Regional Consultation for the UN Study on Violence Against Children (held in Ljubljana in July 2005) also had a Panel Discussion on State Accountability to Protect Children from Violence in the Alternative Care System. This remains unfortunately a highly acute issue – including in Europe – and the exchange of ideas and best practices in this regard could bring an important contribution for CoE Member States to make progress in this area.

Last updated 02/02/2006 17:27:41