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Description
The Declaration of the Rights of the Child, the European Legislation, the Council of Europe directives require the modernization of child protection systems. The goal is the restriction of the institution-based models such as orphanages that require child care out of family and the promotion of foster care a key factor of deinstitutionalization of orphaned children, Our country just started the implementation of the above directives with the implementation of Law 4538/2018 and civil society should be vigilant to support this transition towards the best interest of the children. SOS Children''s Villages Greece, with a long experience in family-type care and proven partnerships and actions in the field of deinstitutionalization and foster care, aims to utilize this know-how by setting up an Advocacy section to support the creation of an institutional framework, promote synergies on the field, raise awareness and the substantial and sustainable development of foster care and deinstitutionalization in Child Protection in Greece.In this context, our strategy focuses on two key priorities: (1) the pressure to establish an institutional framework that defines the operation of child protection systems based on the guidelines of the European legislation to ensure the protection of the rights of the child. (2) the promotion of family care models, with emphasis on foster care, through the supervision of the implementation of the new Law 4538/2018 on Foster Care and the promotion of relevant structural interventions.The two Advocacy Strategic Objectives set by SOS Children''s Village, if achieved, will provide a platform and will directly benefit more than 3,000 children living in Institutions, as well as hundreds of children and families -foster parents, biological families- by significantly modernizing child protection system in Greece.
Summary of project results
The Declaration of the Rights of the Child, the European Legislation, the Council of Europe directives require the modernization of child protection systems with the aim of restricting institution-based models of out of parental care children and the promotion of foster care as a key factor for De-Institutionalization. Our country just started the implementation of the above directives with the implementation of Law 4538/2018 and civil society should be vigilant to support this transition towards the best interest of the citizens who need it most, children.
SOS Children''s Villages Greece, with a long experience in family-type care and proven partnerships and actions in the field of De-Institutionalization and foster care, aimed to exploit this know-how by setting up an Advocacy section to support the creation of an institutional framework, promote synergies on the field, the information of the society and the substantial and sustainable development of foster care and Deinstitutionalization in Child Protection in Greece.
In this context, their strategy focused on two key priorities: (1) the pressure to establish an institutional framework that defines the operation of child protection systems based on the guidelines of the European legislation to ensure the protection of the rights of the child. (2) the promotion of family care models, with emphasis on foster care, through the supervision of the implementation of the new Law 4538/2018 on Foster Care and the promotion of relevant structural interventions.
The strengthening of the SOSCV Advocacy Group was extremely important both for the organization and for the policy influence to promote Deinstitutionalization in Greece. During these 2.5 years, with the valuable support of the EEA grant, we have achieved important steps in the field of Child Protection in favor of the rights of children without families, in a critical turning point in Greece with regards to Child Protection, as well as for the importance of SOS Children''s Villages in the field of child protection as a key institutional leader for Foster Care and Deinstitutionalization. As Deinstitutionalization advances at the level of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, with the implementation of the Foster Care Law (2017) and the implementation of new legal frameworks in Child Protection, we managed, with intensive effort, to become one of the close and trusted interlocutors of the Ministry, particularly active in leading institutional consultations and meetings. Based on the Ministry’s commitment to participate as one of the 7 countries in the third pilot phase of the implementation of the Child Guarantee in Europe, leading the effort with Deinstitutionalization, we can say that Child Protection in Greece is currently at a key turning point, and that SOS Children''s Villages lead the relevant consultations and discussions.
The conduct of a comprehensive Research Project on Childcare institutions in Greece, the first one since 2014, which included numerical and qualitative data, was extremely important for the promotion of the organisation''s advocacy principles and for enriching the public and institutional dialogue with critical data.
The Project exceeded their original objectives as designed and submitted in the original proposal by achieving significant and tangible successes in both goals:
(1) Regarding the pressure to establish a single institutional framework that will determine the operation of child protection systems based on the directives of European institutions to ensure the protection of children''s rights, the project succeeded in creating the Law, continued to monitor it for improvement , but also the rallying of Civil Society with joint announcements on the importance of this institutional framework.
(2) The Research contributed significantly to the proof of the organisation''s positions in the promotion of alternative care.
(3) At the social level, the Adoption campaign and our systematic efforts with the media contributed significantly to the much-desired change of mentality and the modernization of the public dialogue.