Steering Committee

Steering Committee | Advisory Group

unicefUSAIDSave he Children UKCAREHope for African Children Initiative

Background to the Formation of the Better Care Network

Over 60 million children have lost one or both parents throughout the world due to different causes. The HIV/AIDS pandemic is adding significantly to this number.

Background to the Formation of the Better Care Network

Over 60 million children have lost one or both parents throughout the world due to different causes. The HIV/AIDS pandemic is adding significantly to this number.

We know that children need and have a right to be cared for by their parents and to grow up in a family environment as much as possible. This has been recognized through years of experience and research as well as formally recognized under national and international laws. In many countries, however, few or no mechanisms exist to ensure the most appropriate placements, encourage and support guardianship and adoption arrangements, and provide support and monitoring for foster families. Much needs to be done to prevent separation by supporting families and to develop better care alternatives when separation is inevitable. National and international actors need to establish and enforce appropriate legal standards to ensure the safety, well-being, and healthy development of children placed in care, including continued efforts towards reunification and permanency.

Establishment and Expansion of the Better Care Network

Recognizing the urgent need for concerted action, UNICEF, the Displaced Children and Orphans Fund (DCOF) and the Africa Bureau for Sustainable Development of USAID, and Save the Children UK, came together to form the Better Care Network (BCN) in 2003. This decision was influenced by the Stockholm Conference on Residential Care in May 2003 and the position paper presented there by the Save the Children Alliance, "A Last Resort: The Growing Concern About Children in Residential Care," and by workshops on better care issues in Africa and the United States. During its first two years, BCN existed as a loose affiliation of organizations exchanging information through a growing listserve. As the listserve grew, and more information was shared via the network, the organizations mentioned above, together with CARE and the Hope for African Children Initiative (HACI), agreed that BCN served a vital role, and should expand its scope through the creation of a formal secretariat to support its work. Each organization agreed to contribute resources to strengthen BCN and to serve on its steering committee. In August 2005, BCN's secretariat was established. The secretariat is based at UNICEF headquarters and operates with the guidance and direction of the steering committee, which meets once a year.

Background

Over 60 million children have lost one or both parents throughout the world due to different causes. The HIV/AIDS pandemic is adding significantly to this number.

We know that children need and have a right to be cared for by their parents and to grow up in a family environment as much as possible. This has been recognized through years of experience and research as well as formally recognized under national and international laws. In many countries, however, few or no mechanisms exist to ensure the most appropriate placements, encourage and support guardianship and adoption arrangements, and provide support and monitoring for foster families. Much needs to be done to prevent separation by supporting families and to develop better care alternatives when separation is inevitable.

Formation of the Better Care Network

Recognizing the urgent need for concerted action, UNICEF, the Displaced Children and Orphans Fund (DCOF) and the Africa Bureau for Sustainable Development of USAID, and Save the Children UK, came together to form the Better Care Network (BCN) in 2003. This decision was influenced by the Stockholm Conference on Residential Care in May 2003 and the position paper presented there by the Save the Children Alliance, "A Last Resort: The Growing Concern About Children in Residential Care," and by workshops on better care issues in Africa and the United States. During its first two years, BCN existed as a loose affiliation of organizations exchanging information through a growing listserve. As the listserve grew, and more information was shared via the network, the organizations mentioned above, together with CARE and the Hope for African Children Initiative (HACI), agreed that BCN served a vital role, and should expand its scope through the creation of a formal secretariat to support its work. Each organization agreed to contribute resources to strengthen BCN and to serve on its steering committee. In August 2005, BCN's secretariat was established. The secretariat is based at UNICEF headquarters and operates with the guidance and direction of the steering committee. In 2007, two more steering committee members joind BCN: Bernard van leer Foundation; and Firelight Foundation.

Advisory Group

Steering Committee | Advisory Group

In January, 2006, the Better Care Network had its first Advisory Group meeting in London. The Advisory Group is made up of individuals from national and international NGO's, academic institutions, international organizations, government ministries, and independent consultants, all of whom have extensive experience in issues around care and support for vulnerable children and families. Currently, there are 53 members, 37 of which took part in the first meeting. The Advisory Group is regionally balanced, and members do not pay fees.

It was agreed at the first meeting that the Advisory Group will:

Advise on strategic priorities and workplans of the Better Care Network secretariat;

Over 60 million children have lost one or both parents throughout the world due to different causes.  The HIV/AIDS pandemic is adding significantly to this number.

We know that children need and have a right to be cared for by their parents and to grow up in a family environment as much as possible.  This has been recognized through years of experience and research as well as formally recognized under national and international laws.  In many countries, however, few or no mechanisms exist to ensure the most appropriate placements, encourage and support guardianship and adoption arrangements, and provide support and monitoring for foster families.  Much needs to be done to prevent separation by supporting families and to develop better care alternatives when separation is inevitable.  National and international actors need to establish and enforce appropriate legal standards to ensure the safety, well-being, and healthy development of children placed in care, including continued efforts towards reunification and permanency.

Establishment and Expansion of the Better Care Network

Recognizing the urgent need for concerted action, UNICEF, the Displaced Children and Orphans Fund (DCOF) and the Africa Bureau for Sustainable Development of USAID, and Save the Children UK, came together to form the Better Care Network (BCN) in 2003.  This decision was influenced by the Stockholm Conference on Residential Care in May 2003 and the position paper presented there by the Save the Children Alliance, "A Last Resort: The Growing Concern About Children in Residential Care," and by workshops on better care issues in Africa and the United States.  During its first two years, BCN existed as a loose affiliation of organizations exchanging information through a growing listserve.  As the listserve grew, and more information was shared via the network, the organizations mentioned above, together with CARE and the Hope for African Children Initiative (HACI), agreed that BCN served a vital role, and should expand its scope through the creation of a formal secretariat to support its work.  Each organization agreed to contribute resources to strengthen BCN and to serve on its steering committee.  In August 2005, BCN's secretariat was established.  The secretariat is based at UNICEF headquarters and operates with the guidance and direction of the steering committee, which meets once a year.

The Nordic Adoption Council (NAC) is an association of adoption organizations in the Nordic countries. Its purpose is to work for good conditions for international adoptions in the Nordic countries. Its work must be based on the fundamental principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child of 1989 and the Hague Convention of 1993 on the Protection of Children and on Cooperation in International Adoptions. The work of the NAC is led by a board that is elected/appointed for a 2-year period. The Board of Directors consists of an elected chairman, a nominated representative from each of the five Nordic countries and any. an additional member. During the current parliamentary term, the extra member is a representative of Adoption and Society, while as a member of DanAdopt's Board of Directors, I have been appointed to take care of the Danish organizations' interest in the Nordic adoption cooperation.

At the NAC Board we have for some time had the EU's position on international adoptions on the agenda. This is mainly due to the entire process of adoptions of children from Bulgaria and Romania during the period up to these two countries' accession to the EU. As you know, this process resulted in the fact that there are now virtually hermetically closed off for adoptions from the 2 countries. It is also a fact that this result is directly linked to the two countries' accession negotiations with the EU. But does this indicate that the EU has a hostile attitude towards international adoptions? That is what we have set out to investigate.

We start by going back to the autumn of 2005, when the NAC was represented at a conference in The Hague, the purpose of which was to discuss the practical application of the above-mentioned Hague Convention in both donor and recipient countries. Here, a representative of the European Union presented the Commission's views, and we were, to say the least, surprised. expressed that international adoption must be seen as the last resort. This was quite contrary to the way we think and work and which we believe is the correct interpretation of the Hague Convention, namely that it is in the best interests of the child to become part of a family rather than to be placed in an institution. in his home country.

Subsequently, we have encountered similar views from several sides of the EU system, including also from an English member of the European Parliament, Baroness Emma Nicholson, who has been very involved in the process of the accession negotiations with Bulgaria and (in particular) Romania. Recently, the EU Commission has responded to a question from the Danish authorities stating, inter alia, that international adoption can only come about if the child in his home country cannot be appropriately taken care of. Later in the reply, it is stated that in Romania and Bulgaria, adequate care is generally present, which is why the Hague Convention does not oblige the 2 countries to release children for international adoption. The Swedish authorities have received the reply from Brussels that no EU decision on international adoptions exists. Confused?

The picture that draws from the purely legal side of the case is a bit complicated. Simply put, the reasoning is based on an interpretation of the above two conventions and their mutual ranking. That discussion will hardly ever solve the problem.

(first published in English by Amici dei Bambini)

További cikkek a kategóriában: Articles in English

2007. március 15.

"CHILDREN PROTECTED ONLY ON PAPER AWAIT REAL PROTECTION"

By Pierre Poupard

ISS - Adoption THE SEARCH OF ORIGINS 

Above the toilet, in the powder room at John D. Negroponte's house, a framed political cartoon hangs at eye level. In the cartoon, President Bush is congratulating Negroponte on his job as intelligence czar. Near the president, advisers stand holding memos marked "WMD" and "North Korea." They're blowing bubbles, wearing a dunce cap and a beanie.

Bush: "John, you're now in charge of all my administration's intelligence."

Negroponte: "And where would that be?"

Now, less than two years after becoming the nation's first director of national intelligence, Negroponte is leaving. Tomorrow, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will convene hearings on his nomination as deputy secretary of state. From the outside, it seems like an unusual move, a demotion. Negroponte, 67, is stepping down from a Cabinet-level position as the president's top intelligence adviser and coordinator for all 16 U.S. intelligence services to become the No. 2 at State.

But from the inside of Negroponte's Tuscan, mustard-colored Washington home, the mystery of his career move dissipates with the steam from a pot of Earl Grey tea.

Chinees adoptiemeisje vindt ouders terug

26 januari 2007, 09:28

HILVERSUM - Het KRO-programma Spoorloos heeft een zeer opvallend succes geboekt in het achterhalen van de biologische ouders van een uit China geadopteerd meisje.In de uitzending van komende maandag is te zien dat de biologische ouders van de 10-jarige Eline uit Noord-Holland worden achterhaald in de stad Chongqing.

Een daadwerkelijke hereniging tussen Eline en haar biologische ouders in China is er overigens nog niet geweest, aldus Paul Vertegaal, eindredacteur van Spoorloos. Volgens hem willen de Nederlandse adoptieouders dat Eline eerst rustig het nieuws op zich laat inwerken. In een later stadium kan er dan een ontmoeting komen.

Het succesvol achterhalen van de biologische ouders van Chinese adoptiekinderen is uiterst zeldzaam. In Nederland, waar ongeveer 5000 uit China geadopteerde kinderen wonen, is zover bekend een dergelijke succesvolle zoektocht nog niet eerder gemeld. Internationaal is er op internetforums wel eerder gemeld dat adoptiekinderen uit China in contact zouden zijn gebracht met hun biologische ouders, maar zonder harde bewijzen daarvoor te leveren.