Quality4Children: Out-of-Home Care - at home away from the family
15/10/2007
Out-of-home care is a term used to portray the sad truth that some children cannot live with their parents and therefore need an alternative form of care. How can this alternative solution be turned into something more than just a place providing them with board and lodging? What is necessary in order for children to experience this substitute home, in the best case, as a real home? How can their development chances be maximised?
Through the ambitious "Quality4Children" project, three large organisations in the field of out-of-home care wish to secure and improve the chances of hundreds of thousands of children and youths in Europe who cannot live with their biological parents. In a two and a half year process, SOS Children, IFCO (International Foster Care Organisation) and FICE (Fédération Internationale des Communautés Educatives) worked together closely in order to develop quality standards for out-of-home care throughout Europe.
Thirty two European countries took part in "Quality4Children", and some 30 quality standards were prepared. The final version of these guidelines was presented at the European Parliament in June 2007 at the invitation of MEPs, and is now ready to be implemented step by step. The goal is to have legally binding quality guidelines for out-of-home care in all European countries. Even now, before these standards have been adopted, government offices in Romania and Malta have given signs that the Q4C quality standards should find their way into legislation.
"Quality4Children" is integrally based on the experiences of those directly involved, mainly those of children and youths, and those of parents, foster parents, social workers, care givers, and youth welfare representatives, among others. A total of 320 people, among which were 159 children and youths, were interviewed narratively. A third of those participating in the evaluation and discussion processes were young adults who themselves have experienced out-of-home care.
The Quality for Children guidelines are available as a 400K pdf file here.