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Children in alternative care

in Greece

  1. Home
  3. Family Environment and Protection from Violence and Harmful Practices
  4. Children in alternative care

Children affected

  • In April 2023, 1,377 children were accommodated in residential facilities for children without parental care.
  • The majority of children in public institutions are younger than 6 years old. Older children are usually placed in private institutions (38 per cent are between 6-12 years old and 13 per cent under 6 years old) (MoLSA, 2020).
  • The number of adoptions has decreased over the years, from 543 in 2012 to 184 in 2021.

Equity

Gender​​​​​

  • The majority of children in public institutions are boys (60,21 per cent), and girls in private institutions (56,43 per cent) (MoLSA, 2020).

Disability​​​​​

  • Among the 1,377 children accommodated in residential facilities, 137 have a disability certification (April 2023).

Enabling Environment

Legislation, policy, resources, coordination, data

Bottlenecks

  • Inactive legal provisions and operational gaps do not allow for the effective implementation of laws on guardianship and foster care. Hence, family based  care interventions are not implemented and scaled up.
  • No uniform regulatory framework regarding prevention, support, removal of children from family care, monitoring and review procedures.
  • Legislative gap in the operational framework regulating the establishment and the operation of public child care institutions, including qualitative criteria.
  • Lack of follow up and enforcement of the newly established standards for private child care institutions and clear process for monitoring and addressing noncompliance.
  • Lack of policies and practices to support children in institutions who are ageing out exacerbates risks of homelessness, exploitation, unemployment and social exclusion.
  • Foster care serves primarily as an initial step toward adoption rather than serving as a temporary protective measure  until a long-term solution in the best interest of the child is identified.
  • Lack of a mechanism to clearly define the accountability and monitoring of the implementation of the National Strategy and Action Plan on deinstitutionalization, which is not necessarily reflected in policy measures and is not binding for all accountable actors.
  • No publicly available disaggregated data that capture all children in residential facilities for children without parental care.

CRC Recommendations (2022)

  • 29(b) In case of parental separation, ensure that joint parental custody is applied unless it is not in the best interests of the child and build the capacity of the judiciary to undertake this assessment.
  • 29(d) Prevent child abduction, including by monitoring the implementation of The Hague Convention on Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, and consider requiring written consent when a child travels abroad with one parent.
  • 31(a) Implement the newly adopted National Deinstitutionalisation Strategy, together with a specific and time-bound action plan with budget and staff allocations to prevent and phase out institutionalization, by: (i) supporting families in vulnerable situations, (ii) referring them to appropriate services including for strengthening of parenting skills and (iii) supporting family-based care options;
  • 31(b) Ensure that children are separated from their family only if it is in their best interests and after a comprehensive assessment of their situation; and that poverty, disabilities or a lack of
  •  identification documents are never the sole justification for family separation;
  • 31(c) Monitor the implementation of Law 4538/2018 and further promote and strengthen the capacity of foster care, including by conducting a national recruitment campaign for foster parents and providing regular and adequate training for them before and during the placement of children, especially on fostering children with special needs and unaccompanied migrant children;
  • 31(d) Strengthen data collection on alternative care settings and children living therein, including with regard to privately-run and Church-run institutions;
  • 31(e) Develop and implement national standards for quality alternative care across all forms of care, in public, private and Church-run institutions alike, including regarding staffing and premises; provide training to staff working in institutions to enhance their awareness of the rights and needs of children deprived of a family environment; monitor the respect of children’s rights; ensure regular, periodic and substantive review of placements, with a view to facilitating family returns or family-based solutions, including by providing the needed support to families in that regard;
  • 31(f) Provide opportunities for all children in care to maintain contact with their parents and to have their views heard and taken into account. 
  • 32(a) Reduce unnecessary procedural delays, including regarding the substitution of the birth parents’ consent, and review the legislation accordingly;
  • 32(b) Address confusion between adoption and foster care, both in legislation, among professionals and the general public. 
  • 32(e) Consider extending adoption to same-sex couples. 
  • 41. Noting with concern the lack of information, the Committee reiterates General Comment No. 21 and its previous recommendations (para. 67) and calls on the State party to develop an integrated approach to deal with children in street situations, including by assessing their numbers, specific situations and root causes, establishing a monitoring mechanism and adopting a strategy and programmes to prevent, protect and support them, and to promptly investigate the Aghia Varvara case.

 

National Actions

  • Review of legislation on foster care and guardianship and expansion of family and community-based care models to achieve deinstitutionalization, including supported independent living for older children.
  • Operationalization of the law regarding professional foster care and expansion of the model to all children, not only to those with disabilities.
  • Establish a national coordination body for the protection for all children at risk or in need, including children without parental care.
  • Establish specialized child protection services to support children and their families, prevent family separation and placement in alternative care and support in family reunification.
  • Thoroughly monitor the implementation of the Child Guarantee National Action Plan for reducing child poverty and social exclusion, including children without parental care. Create a national e-registry with disaggregated data for children in need of protection, including those without parental care.
  • Establish a professional foster care model as the dominant model of care for children that are removed from their families for their protection and upon assessment of their best interest.

Supply

Adequately staffed services, facilities, information, commodities

Bottlenecks

  • The current system heavily relies on large-scale residential care and does not prioritize gatekeeping and the redirecting of resources into preventive and family-based services (e.g. kinship care or foster care) or community-based care such as supported independent living.
  • The current services do not have the capacity to invest in supporting the reunification of institutionalized children with their families.
  • Lack of supportive services and programmes for vulnerable families at community level.
  • Lack of adequate support to staff in institutions, in terms of continuous training and professional supervision, affects the quality of care and does not promote the understanding of family-based care as the optimum form of alternative care.
  • No feedback mechanisms for children living in institutions or with adoptive and foster families.
  • The adoption process involves heavy bureaucratic procedures and suffers from lack of human resources to carry out child centered assessments and follow up of individual cases.
  • Few incentives for potential foster carers given the lack of support services, the indefinite duration of placement and the inadequate financial support (Foster care allowance).

CRC Recommendations (2022)

  • 29(c) Strengthen family support and community-based services as well as cooperation between social protection, education, healthcare and other community services, while allocating adequate resources thereto, to prevent child abandonment and family separation.
  • 31(g) Develop emergency care solutions to end the practice of hospitalization of children in need of temporary care; ensure that the provision of care meets the needs of children belonging to ethnic or religious minorities, children with behavioural, psychological and/or psychosocial issues, children with disabilities, children in conflict with the law and unaccompanied migrant children. 
  • 31(h) Ensure adequate support for children leaving care, including unaccompanied migrant children, and further develop community-based services and supported independent living. 
  • 32(c) Strengthen the capacity of the adoption services and their knowledge and application of the 1993 Hague Convention No. 33 on Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Inter-country Adoption;
  • 32(d) Ensure post-adoption monitoring and services. 

National Actions

  • Increase human resources and strengthen the capacity of the social service workforce (e.g.re-skilling and re-deployment of personnel from large-scale residential facilities) to deliver quality support to children and their caregivers in communities.
  • Adopt standardized ‘case management’ tools, ensuring appropriate follow up and response on each individual situation taking into consideration different social protection dimensions (e.g. homelessness, poverty, disability).
  • Design children's participation mechanisms in decision making, create standards, SOPs, national laws and plans to ensure children, including those without parental care, are included in government decisions.
  • Strengthen and support community-based models of care such as foster care and Supported Independent Living and transform residential institutions to open community centres providing support to children and families in need.
  • Change the practice of placing children in need of care in hospitals by establishing emergency foster care with specific procedural framework and given duration and recruit emergency foster carers. 
  • Develop a harmonized approach to monitor the quality of out-of-family care system.

Demand

Financial access and social behavioural drivers

Bottlenecks

  • Limited public awareness of foster care as a form of temporary care, distinct from adoption.

CRC Recommendations (2022)

  • 29(a) Promote equal parenting and ensure that both parents, regardless of marital status, have common parental responsibilities under the law and in practice, in line with article 18(1) of the Convention.

National Actions

  • Undertake social and behavioral change research providing insight on public understanding of foster care.
  • Launch awareness-raising campaigns on foster care at national level, including focused on recruiting potential foster carers.