Good news for KEPEP: Meeting on deinstitutionalisation in Athens

From January 25 to January 26 we atttended a closed meeting on Deinstutionalisation in Greece. The meeting brought together stakeholders from the Greek government, non-governmental Hellenic child protection organisations, Jan Jařab, from the European Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Greek Ombudsman.

At the end of the conference Dimitrios Karellas, Secretary General of Ministry of Labour, Social Insurance and Social solidarity announced the first deinsitutionalisation project which will take place at KEPEP Lechaina! The project will be carried out by the international NGO LUMOS halong with Institute of Child’s Health Athens (more information here)

The NGO LUMOS is an organisation founded by J.K. Rowling which aims for deinstituionalisation and community based care all over the world.

In the last year LUMOS has conducted research on child residential care in Greece which they also shared at the conference. LUMOS representives interviewed staff in seven different institutions of different type and legal status, including a baby institution, institution for children with disabilities and a church-run institution (more information here  and here ). LUMOS' research came to the same conclusion as ther researchers from the „Opening Doors for Europe's Children“ campaign: Children and people with disabilities who can't live with there families are mostly placed in large institutions with little or no monitoring of quality. Foster care and community based care services that support families are underdeveloped.

See here the resulting recommendations for reforms of the system:  Recommendations from LUMOS

The need for giving up large instutions and to develope community based care structures has now been recognized by the Greek government. The Ministy of Labour, Social Insurance and Social Solidarity has buildt a new working group on child protection.

Read an interview with Mary Theodoropoulou, head of the Roots Resaerch Center and member of the new working group in which she tells about new developments and furture plans for instutionalized children and their families, including the new minimal requirements that institutions have to follow.: http://www.openingdoors.eu/child-abandonment-can-be-prevented-weve-opened-the-public-authorities-eyes-on-this-opening-doors-greek-coordinator-says/