In December 2017, SOS Children’s Villages Sri Lanka and their partners at Children’s Emergency Relief International (CERI) hosted a conference on the deinstitutionalization and alternative care of children in Sri Lanka at Grand Oriental Hotel. By bringing together local-level field officers and policymakers at every level of the government, as well as Civil Society Organizations, practitioners, academia, media, Child Care Institutions, care leavers and community members, they helped to change the discourse around alternative care in Sri Lanka. Ms. Manique Gunaratne of The Employers’ Federation of Ceylon, Specialized Training & Disability Resource Centre serves as an Advisory Group member focusing on children with disabilities. Following matters were taken into consideration:
8 teams from ‘Locational Circles’ (i.e. groups of government field officers involved in child protection and community health and development) across the country including Anuradhapura, Batticoloa, Galle, Jaffna, Matara, Monaragala, Nuwara Eliya and Piliyandala outlined their action plans for deinstitutionalisation in their districts. These were designed specifically to consider specific problems and causes of institutionalisation and vulnerability among children and create attainable and effective ways to tackle these issues at a local level. The key attributes include:
- Forming groups among parents, children and community members to address issues of socialisation, sexual and physical abuse, exploitation, protective and sexual and reproductive health (SRH) education, and substance abuse, especially alcohol.
- Gathering information from these groups, and finding the underlying reasons for family separation and vulnerability.
- Delivering supportive programmes, including income generation training and support, counselling and psychosocial services.
- Educating families in financial management to more effectively live within their income.
Picture descriptions for vision impaired persons:
Advisory group members.
Manique Gunaratne
The Employers’ Federation of Ceylon,
385 J3 Old Kotte Road,
Rajagiriya, Sri Lanka.
