Introduction

Introduction

 

Introduction

© UNICEF Turkmenistan/2004/Pirozzi

Every child has a right to grow up in a family environment

Like the majority of newly independent states faced with the consequences of the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Turkmenistan is experiencing a widening gap between those able to adequately provide for themselves and those increasingly reliant on state assistance.  Family-related economic struggles, coupled with the added strain on social services, has left many families, and in turn, their children, vulnerable to breakdowns in normal family processes.  These breakdowns have the potential to reverberate into the life of a child and to create situations that can leave the child vulnerable to a number of harms, including exposure to abuse, exploitation, or abandonment.  The challenge for Turkmenistan then, is to meet the socio-economic needs of families and children and to best provide an environment in which families and children can thrive.

One of the main concerns for UNICEF from the point springs from the Soviet-era mentality of reliance on the State for social and economic supports, under extreme pressures, parents are vulnerable to the false belief that their children will be better cared for in state-run institutions.   UNICEF activities spring from the principle that a rights-based, forward moving society is grounded in the very foundation of the family unit.

The problem of children deprived of parental care is not a significant problem in Turkmenistan; only 700-800 (NIS 2004) children in residential care facilities. But the number of struggling, single-parent families at risk of further breakup along with the number of full orphans living with either relatives or non-relative families indicate that prevention through support of vulnerable families and families in need is an appropriate early response.

The current system in Turkmenistan supports families in the community to prevent children from entering the residential care system.  Yet because not all family hardship is cut from the same cloth, children do fall through the cracks.  Children particularly vulnerable include abandoned children, and those most at risk of abuse, violence, exploitation, and even drug abuse.  Inadequate family supports that result from single parent families or families where one or both parent is unemployed can lead to behavioural problems in children, or induce families to break the law by engaging in activities such as child labour, petty drug use, or trading in illegal sex.  All these activities represent some form of violence against a child, an issue that guides cross-cutting UNICEF activities.  There is a need, however, for a more precise assessment of the nature and scale of this issue, so that adequate and culturally appropriate interventions may be designed.

All activities are founded in the principle that every child has a right to grow up in a family environment. By providing assistance in favor of full development of community based services, UNICEF supports the family unit by stressing rights-based alternatives to institutionalization of children, creating positive choices for families and children, and keeping kids in school and out of trouble.  UNICEF also encourages avenues for youth participation, so that children’s and adolescents’ voices are heard on issues that directly affect their lives.

One of the main strategies for achieving this is by developing the knowledge base of national professionals routinely in contact with at-risk or vulnerable kids.  UNICEF organizes various socially-related workshops to fill the gap created by an absence of a culture of social workers in the country.  UNICEF projects emphasize the training of health care providers, educators, guardianship bodies and juvenile police in methods of social work, including crisis intervention, problem-solving of case-work, group work, and preventative counseling. Improving multi-agency coordination so that the system is better able to respond to child protection concerns is another area that UNICEF emphasizes.

As part of the programme, UNICEF is providing training for staff and volunteers in two community based centres in the cities of Abadan and Balkanabad.  By educating workers in various support systems such as psycho-social counselling for parents and children, and by providing day-care and group activities for children, these centres are increasingly equipped to support at-risk children and families in need.

To support children who, through vulnerability and abuse come in contact with the law, UNICEF, along side other international aid agencies, have worked towards the establishment of the Adolescent Support Centre under the Ashgabat City Police Department.  Services are meant to provide families with crisis intervention counselling and rehabilitative support.  The ultimate goal of the centre is to prevent violence against disadvantaged adolescents and juvenile crime, and to provide for the social reintegration of former victims.