Twenty years ago, I founded the international children’s charity Lumos, which seeks to realise every child’s right to grow up in a safe and loving family. In doing so, I’ve come to understand the devastating links between violence against children and the institutionalisation of children.
Violence is a major driver of child-family separation, which can lead to children being placed in institutions. Children and young people entering care are then exposed to the risk of further violence in the system which is meant to protect them – especially in institutions, which are inherently harmful, given their well-documented effects on children’s development. 1 Institutionalisation of children has indeed been recognised as both a deprivation of liberty2 and a form of violence against children in itself.
This is why the Global Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence Against Children, in Bogota on the 7-8th November, is not only significant – for the first time governments across the world will convene at ministerial level to make commitments related to ending violence against children – but reflects the scale of the problem: 1 in 2 children are victims of violence. ³
The conference campaign states that power to end this violence is ‘in our hands’ – a powerful and hopeful message. However, it’s important that we make sure that children in institutions or at risk of institutionalisation are part of the conversation.
Children in the care system are often among the most marginalised and discriminated-against – those with disabilities, living in extreme poverty, belonging to minority social and cultural groups and indigenous communities. Too often, they are powerless, with limited or no means of voicing and challenging the violations they experience. These children must not be left behind in the global effort to end violence against children.
Governments in many countries have already collectively recognised the harm caused by child institutionalisation and have committed to take steps to prevent unnecessary child-family separation by progressively replacing institutions with quality family and community based care and services, whilst protecting children in all care settings from all forms of violence and abuse: this was agreed in the UN General Assembly Resolution on the Rights of the Child in 2019. ⁴
The good news is that there is a great deal of crossover between approaches to ending violence against children and to preventing and responding to child-family separation. Providing support to families and delivering training on positive parenting approaches can help to prevent both unnecessary family-child separation and violence in the home, which itself can be a cause of separation. A strong and well-resourced social workforce and early intervention programme can help provide targeted support to vulnerable families before child protection issues arise. It is also increasingly being recognised that where children do need to be removed from the care of one or both parents for their safety, they are placed in safe, caring, family-based care – not institutions, which can compound the harms they have faced.
The conference in November provides an opportunity for a renewed focus on this issue. It is impossible to end violence against children globally without addressing the needs of this most vulnerable group of children – those separated from their families and placed in institutions.
We call upon governments to capitalise on the Global Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence Against Children to address the widespread violence faced by children and young people who are in alternative care. We ask that they examine ways to actively implement global commitments to prevent and respond to violence against children in an integrated way with efforts to prevent unnecessary child-family separation and provide safe, nurturing, family based alternative care for all children.
J.K. Rowling, Founder and Life President, Lumos
Originally published in El Tiempo.
References
[1] van IJzendoorn, M. H., Bakermans-Kranenburg. M. J., Duschinsky, R., Fox, N. A., Goldman, P. S., Gunnar, M. R., Johnson, D. E., Nelson, C. A., Reijman, S., Skinner, G. C. M., Zeanah, C. H., Sonuga-Barke, E. J. S. (2020) Institutionalisation and deinstitutionalisation of children 1: a systematic and integrative review of evidence regarding effects on development. Lancet Psychiatry. VOLUME 7, ISSUE 8, p.703-720. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(19)30399-2.
[2] Nowak, M; (2019) The United Nations Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty.
[3] Hillis, S., Mercy, J., Amobi, A., & Kress, H. (2016). Global prevalence of past-year violence against children: a systematic review and minimum estimates. Pediatrics, 137(3).
[4] General Assembly resolution 74/395, Rights of the child. A/RES/74/395 (18 December 2019).