New Perspectives in Child Protection Policy – the systemic approach
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, aims 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, 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. For these purposes, emphasis is placed on collaborating with all relevant actors, exploiting the experience of the SOS Children’s Villages worldwide network, as well as the participation of the organization in the National Council of Foster Care and Adoption as described in the Law.
