20 July 2006 - CRINMAIL 799 - Special Edition on Children Without Parental Care
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- CHILDREN WITHOUT PARENTAL CARE: Better Care Network Launches Website [news]
- USING THE WEBSITE: Some features [information]
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Your submissions are welcome if you are working in the area of child rights. To contribute, email us at [email protected]. Adobe Acrobat is required for viewing some of the documents, and if required can be downloaded from http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html If you do not receive this email in html format, you will not be able to see some hyperlinks in the text. At the end of each item we have therefore provided a full URL linking to a web page where further information is available.
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CHILDREN WITHOUT PARENTAL CARE: Better Care Network Launches Website [news]
[LONDON-NEW YORK, 20 July 2006] - The Better Care Network (BCN) is launching a website today in collaboration with the Child Rights Information Network (CRIN). The website will improve the Network’s ability to support individual and collective efforts to enable children to have the care that they need and to which they are entitled.
BCN was launched following the international conference on children and residential care in Stockholm in 2003 and formally set up its secretariat in 2005. The network is guided by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Stockholm Declaration on Children and Residential Care.
The network facilitates active information exchange and collaboration among individuals and organisations advocating for technically sound policy and programmatic action for children without adequate family care at global, regional, and national levels.
"The Network is more than an information sharing mechanism", adds Aaron Greenberg, Coordinator of the Better Care Network, "it actively promotes better care options for children within a human rights framework. In this regard, the partnership with CRIN has worked extremely well. And by leveraging each other's resources and common partnerships, we will be able to accomplish more for children".
John Williamson, Senior Technical Advisor at the Displaced Children's and Orphans Fund and member of the BCN Steering Committee, explains: "Every country on earth faces issues related to preventing inappropriate family separation and the need of separated children for adequate care. Prior to the initiation of the Better Care Network, there was no international forum where practitioners could exchange information, tools, and resources and request help from each other".
The launch of this new website marks the next step in the network’s development and ability to actively improve the situation of many children worldwide. The website already contains over 150 resources. There is also an active listserve which allows over 650 individuals and organizations to raise questions, share ideas, post job opportunities, and share unique and noteworthy documents.
In addition to sharing resources, the website contains practical information about how terms like "foster care", "kinship care" are used and applied in different parts of the world, and how these terms relate to other BCN topics, such as children affected by HIV and AIDS.
"It is an incredibly useful - and long needed - resource for the many organisations, service providers and government departments working to improve the lot of children at risk, including those in need of alternative care", said Alexandra Yuster, senior child protection advisor at UNICEF and also a member of the Steering Committee.
"We hope and believe that the website, like the network itself, will help create more dialogue and understanding in support of children at risk", she continued.
Visit: www.bettercarenetwork.org
For more information, contact:
Child Rights Information Network
1 St John's Lane
London EC1M 4AR
Tel: + 44 20 7012 6866 or 67; Fax: + 44 020 7012 6899
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.crin.org
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=9360
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USING THE WEBSITE: Some features
Toolkits, guidelines, programme evaluations, child welfare assessment forms, policy papers, and advocacy material are just some of the resources available on the Better Care Network’s website. The resources are organised under six themes:
Foster care guidelines from Eastern Europe, and documents that describe fostering in conflict and emergency situations in West Africa, are among the resources that can be found under the theme Family and Community Based Care. Resources on guardianship, kinship care, and adoption are also available.
The theme "Good Practice in Care Arrangements" contains relevant resources regarding assessment and placement monitoring, permanency planning, and the effects of institutional care. The theme "Particular Threats to Children," contains programme evaluations and literature on topics such as children living or working on the street, children affected by HIV and AIDS, child abuse, and children with disabilities. Statistical information and social welfare policy documents are also contained on the site.
Browse the documents by theme and topic, or conduct a more specified advanced search by topic, region, keywords or dates to narrow your results.
Advanced Search: http://www.crin.org/bcn/search.asp
If you would like to submit a document or news item to be posted to the web site or listserv, please send a request to [email protected]
All comments and questions can be sent to [email protected]
Click here to sign up to their email announcement.
For more information, contact:
Better Care Network
c/o UNICEF
3 UN Plaza, 739-2, New York, NY 10017, USA
Tel: +1 212 326 7650
Email: [email protected]
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