Protecting and Promoting the Rights of Children in Alternative Care

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Dear colleagues and friends,

I am so very happy to have received this invitation- both for the importance of the topic in question and for the familiarity of the surroundings. As I settle into my new role as Director, I am happy to report that this is not my first engagement on the topic of protecting children’s rights. I spoke at the Eurochild annual conference in July, I have held bilateral meetings with relevant authorities in Brussels and I have placed youth participation high on my priority list in internal discussions within FRA. In respect of this latter point, I would like to greet the young ENYA members here today and praise these young experts for their commitment and enthusiasm.

Despite only being in this job for 6 months, I believe the examples of engagement I have mentioned illustrate the importance I put on this topic. I often say that experiences of social exclusion and inequality in older age are not determined by simply reaching a certain number, but by the structural, social and cultural contexts encountered throughout an individual’s life. If a person has not enjoyed equal rights and opportunities in earlier stages of life, these disadvantages will accumulate and lead to restrictions on the enjoyment of rights in later stages of their life. 

You are all firmly aware of the difficulties faced by children whose rights are not protected, particularly those in alternative care, who continue to be amongst the most vulnerable groups of children to experience social exclusion in Europe. A very initial sign of neglect faced by this group is the lack of good, comprehensive data of children in alternative care. To counter this, we should acknowledge the joint DataCare project by Eurochild and UNICEF, which maps alternative care data systems. At FRA, we are looking forward to the results and conclusions of the ENOC Survey on the Rights of Children in Alternative Care being presented at today’s conference, and the subsequent recommendations.

Thanks to the DataCare project, we have the grave estimate of 800,000 children living in alternative care in the 27 EU Member States and the UK. Deprived of parental care and too often growing up in institutions, these children can endure physical, psychological, emotional and social harm – with consequences that last a lifetime. I need not remind anyone here that Article 24 the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights applies to these 800,000 children, and all others. It enshrines children’s rights and the principle of ‘the child’s best interests’ as a primary consideration in all actions and decisions relating to children. Children shall have the right to protection and care, to be heard and to maintain contact with both parents, unless that is contrary to their interests.

In this respect, we welcome the European Commission’s efforts to encourage and support Member States to work towards better integrated child protection systems. Between the EU Strategy on the Rights of the Child and the Commission’s April Recommendation on developing and strengthening integrated child protection systems, there have been strong, visible efforts from Brussels to improve the situation, to ensure the implementation of international and regional standards, and to do all of this in the best interests of the child.

FRA firmly believes that an integrated approach is crucial to ensure the rights of all children, no matter in which situation, with or without parental care, and to protect them from all forms of violence. Some of the reasons for this belief are that a single national legal framework creates a safe environment by establishing obligations for public and private actors, including ombuds offices and national human rights institutions. Another is that a comprehensive national policy covers sector-specific action plans and policies that include children with and without parental care. More than half of the Member States have developed such a comprehensive national policy on children’s rights and child protection. Finally, cross-sectoral coordination among all relevant governmental actors, and between state and non-state actors, is essential for the effective protection of rights.

I am proud to speak about my agency’s work on this topic. In 2022, FRA commenced a multi-annual project entitled “Towards integrated child protection systems”. This project seeks to provide relevant data, evidence-based advice, and capacity building to the development and strengthening of integrated child protection systems in the EU. Our main goal with this work is to secure the sustainable well-being, safety and rights of all children living in the EU. To date, FRA has published 27 national reports on child protection systems, an update to our mapping of child protection systems, and a tool which allows users to obtain an overview of the situation in any EU Member State. We have created an extensive repository of information, and we will add to this later this year when we publish a comparative report, which will contain a deeper exploration of the wide range of challenges faced by Member States, the efforts underway by actors at a national, EU and international level. It will also contain concrete suggestions for ways forward.

During the course of this work, one broad challenge we have seen across Member States relates to deficiencies in the area of prevention, reporting, referral and care. Across the EU, there are limited prevention and early intervention programmes, for example family support services, parenting education, counselling, or mental health services for parents and children, often due to growing demand and cost. Training for children, families and professionals, as well as society at large, of what constitutes violence needs to be further expanded. There is also a lack of evidence regarding the outcomes in terms of health, education, and well-being of children placed outside the home, which results in a lack of clarity about the effectiveness of budget spent on the different types of interventions.

Another challenge relates to the availability, effectiveness and standardisation of reporting mechanisms responsible for monitoring key aspects of well-being of children in care. These vary significantly across the EU, including in terms of those who are obligated to report violence against children.

It must be said that progress has been made in diversifying the forms of alternative care and assistance available to families. However, placement decisions are often complicated by a lack of foster families, including families equipped to welcome children with special or complex needs.

While de-institutionalisation efforts are underway across the EU, significant structural, financial and attitudinal barriers persist in some Member States. In many countries, Roma children and children with disabilities are over-represented in child protection systems, particularly in residential care.

Our upcoming report will also suggest several concrete measures for Member States, which we believe will improve the situation for impacted children. These include:

• Allocate appropriate financing of psychosocial support for children,
• Provide adequate training for professionals working with children, so that they may detect and report signs of violence early on, and effectively support the child,
• Accelerate deinstitutionalisation efforts,
• Increase the number of families available to provide foster care,
• Monitor the situation of children in alternative care and undergoing deinstitutionalisation closely, perhaps by using the indicators developed as part of the DataCare project, and
• Fully implement the European Child Guarantee and use European Social Fund Plus funding to tackle child poverty and social exclusion.

Allow me here to thank ENOC and all of you- the critical work you carry out is reflected throughout FRA’s upcoming report. We have highlighted examples of your good practice across many areas, including carrying out independent data collection, monitoring and reporting; providing advice on legislative and policy frameworks; raising awareness; fostering interdisciplinary dialogue; and maybe most importantly, in hearing children.

To conclude, allow me to encourage you all in the creation, continuation and enhancement of good practice - much of which is already happening – in the following areas:

• Child participation in decision-making should be fostered, including by Ombudspersons, and particularly through networks such as ENYA, to ensure children’s voices are integrated into legislative reforms.
• The participation of children with disabilities should be prioritised and effectively accommodated, particularly in respect of better access to family-based care, tailored support services, and safeguarding their rights through independent reporting mechanisms.
• Collaboration across EU Member States should be improved. Establishing formalised coordination among Ombudspersons, national authorities, and children’s rights organisations will ensure that promising practices and successful initiatives are shared and implemented more widely.
• Child Rights Impact Assessments should be better utilised for improved policy-making, to evaluate and mitigate the potential negative impacts of laws and policies on children, ensuring their best interests are consistently prioritised.
• Child-friendly reporting mechanisms should be enhanced and expanded. EU Member States, with the support of Ombudspersons, should improve access to age-appropriate, independent complaint procedures, ensuring children can safely report violence, neglect, or rights violations, no matter in which situation, also acknowledging the unique situation of children in alternative care.

These are just some suggestions of steps we can take on our shared journey towards greater protection for children’s rights. I have no doubt that you will share and discover many more over the course of this conference. I wish you all the very best for the coming days.

Thank you.