Children in institutions
In the past few years, living conditions in placement centres have improved significantly, although quality of care is still an issue. Children in institutions live in an unnatural environment, which might prevent them from acquiring experiences that are necessary for developing life skills. Involving the children in regular ‘household’ activities is still not common practice; furthermore there are limited possibilities for these children to engage in hobbies. As well, the participation in real life activities is limited, leading to likely failure in future social integration. Care within the institutions fails in providing children with life and social skills. This makes it harder for children raised in institutions to relate to others. They tend to mistrust adults, have little confidence in friends and exhibit low self-esteem and confidence in their own capacities. The rights of children in institutions are just beginning to be monitored, with violations being clearly being indicated in a 2002 study on the Causes of Children’s Institutionalization in Romania. Re/integration of children in foster families and extended families is showing a positive trend with improved care mechanisms and environment for these children. Another positive aspect is the increasing number of children with special needs who have the benefit of living in a family environment. However, the training of foster care givers and support they receive is still inadequate.
Monitoring the rights of Mentally Disabled Children in Institutions Constant monitoring of the respect of fundamental human rights is generally acknowledged as one of the main abuse prevention and investigation tools, especially in the case of persons with disabilities, who are much more vulnerable and cannot make a complaint. UNICEF in partnership with the Center for Legal Resources developed a study monitoring the rights of mentally disabled children in public institutions (2006). Click to read the study: [PDF] (PDF documents require Acrobat Reader to view.) |
