Lumos goes global in its mission to liberate 8m children from institutional harm
· 07.04.14
Lumos goes global in its mission to liberate 8m children from institutional harm
LUMOS - JK Rowling’s children’s charity – has become a key member of an international coalition campaigning to stop the funding of orphanages around the world.
It has joined the Global Alliance for Children, whose aims include harnessing international aid to support countries in their efforts to move children out of large institutions and into family and community-based care. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the U.S. Department of Labour are partners of the Global Alliance for Children, as are the World Bank and the Canadian Government, along with foundations in the US, Sweden and Switzerland.
Founded by the Harry Potter author in 2005, Lumos’ mission is based on decades of research showing that children in institutions, who are deprived of loving parental care, suffer life-long physical and psychological harm. Babies, in particular, fail to develop as they should without one-to-one parental interaction.
Working with other groups, Lumos last year won a significant political victory in persuading the European Union to pass laws ensuring that EU social inclusion-related funding within Europe must be used to support the “transition from institutional to community-based care”, rather than building or refurbishing so-called orphanages. Deinstitutionalisation is now established as a key EU funding priority in Europe.
The EU is also one of the world’s largest donors of humanitarian and development aid. Lumos believes the funding principle it helped to establish in Europe can be applied globally - wherever EU funds and those of Global Alliance members are used - as a ‘lever’ to drive the transformation of child care in nations which still rely on institutions and orphanages. It will work with Global Alliance members including USAID – another significant donor – to promote a similar approach in development aid.
As a first step, on April 8, in Brussels, Lumos – with Claude Moraes, Labour MEP for London – will bring influential European Commission figures and MEPs together, for the first time in the same room, with leading US and international members of the Global Alliance.
These include Prof Neil Boothby, who as the U.S. Government Special Advisor and Senior USAID Co-ordinator, launched the U.S. Government Action Plan on Children in Adversity, in 2012. They will take part in a round-table discussion at the European Parliament, entitled A Global Approach to Ending the Institutionalisation of Children - How the EU and the USA can join forces to help children in adversity around the world. The US Government commitment in this area is articulated in its Action Plan on Children in Adversity, which was launched from the White House. There are an estimated eight million children in institutions and orphanages world-wide, including around one million in the European region due to the post-Communist legacy of State institutionalisation of children. More than 90% of children in so-called orphanages have living relatives. Many are there because they are disabled, or have poor parents who cannot cope.
Research suggests that institutionalisation is increasing in some parts of the world, outside Europe. Lumos has recognised that it is, in effect, challenging a decades-old belief that ‘orphanages are good for children’ and that this may be a difficult message for staff who work, often voluntarily, in orphanages, as well as the millions who donate to charities supporting them.
However, Georgette Mulheir, the Chief Executive Officer of Lumos and a 20-year veteran of working to close institutions in counties such as Romania, said: “There are eight million children around the world living in institutions, so this is not just a European problem. It is a global issue and our response to it must be global, which is why Lumos is looking to extend our experience and track record to other countries outside of Europe in order to help more children back into their families and communities.”
“The evidence is incontrovertible that institutionalised care harms children and that there is a better way, based on care in supported families and in the community, including in mainstream schools. If deinstitutionalisation and family and community care are the right approach for children in Europe, then they are the right approach for children around the world. And the Global Alliance is a great opportunity to achieve that goal."
Lumos has already trained thousands of doctors, nurses, social workers, lawyers and teachers and politicians in European countries in the skills needed to support families with disabled children in the community.
The core message of the Global Alliance for Children is that more than 200 million children in low- and middle-income countries are failing to reach their full developmental potential because they lack sufficient nutrition, health and family care, or a safe environment. The Alliance’s key aims are to reduce the number of children who:
· are not meeting key developmental milestones;
· live outside of family care, promoting ‘economic household level strengthening’, positive parenting, de-institutionalisation and safe and permanent family care; or
· experience violence, exploitation, and abuse.
The 200 million includes the eight million children who grow up in institutions. They are disproportionately affected by illness, poverty and unemployment when they grow up, and are more likely to have a criminal record or be victims of crimes such as sex trafficking and sexual abuse.
Charles Gardner, Executive Director of the Global Alliance for Children, praised Lumos’ work on deinstitutionalisation: “Current global efforts to address young children’s essential needs are fragmented. Millions of children suffer from our lack of coordination. The Alliance was created to address this challenge, and we are delighted to count Lumos among the key thought leaders and funders in the Alliance as we join forces to improve children’s lives. Orphanages should be viewed as relics of the past, like poor houses and debtor’s prisons.”
Lumos’ membership of the Global Alliance for Children marks a significant period of expansion for the London-based charity, which was founded by JK Rowling after she was troubled by a newspaper article about the institutionalisation of children in a Central European nation.
As part of its expansion, Lumos has appointed Sir Roger Singleton CBE - one of Britain’s foremost experts on safeguarding children and former Chief Executive of Barnardo’s - as Managing Director, providing the opportunity for CEO Georgette Mulheir to focus on Lumos’ growing work at the global level. Sir Roger was knighted for his services to child protection in 2006.Lumos currently works in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Moldova and Ukraine. It has helped 12,000 children to move from harmful institutions into safe, caring family environments; saved the lives of more than 430 children suffering from malnutrition, neglect or lack of access to surgery; and trained over 15,000 professionals. It has also helped ensure that €357m in EU funding has been spent on dismantling institutions and not on building new ones.
The charity’s success in working with the Moldovan Government is particularly important, as it shows that with the right support one of the world’s poorest countries can transform its services for disadvantaged children.