Promoting inclusive and resilient child protection systems

About

PROMISE is working to strengthen national child protection systems and Barnahus specifically by a) strengthening national practice of well-functioning, accessible and resilient child protection systems that are adequately structured and equipped to function to protect children, including in periods of crisis and emergencies such as the Covid-19 pandemic, and the Russian invasion in Ukraine, b) strengthening the national child protection system’s ability to work on transnational cases, including in cases of third-country children seeking protection within the EU or unaccompanied children moving from country to country within the EU, and c) enhancing the contribution of Barnahus as one important component of the broader child protection systems, whilst promoting excellence in practice in referral, assessment/screening, support, coordination, protection and follow up in cases of violence against children.

Background

One of the key strategic priorities in 2020-25 of CBSS Expert Group Children at Risk is to promote national child protection systems. The expert group actively works to bolster national child protection systems, including legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect children from all forms of violence, maltreatment and neglect, and to support excellence in practice in the innovative model for justice and care, Barnahus, which emanates from the Baltic Sea region.

This project provides an important opportunity for the CBSS Expert Group on children at risk to transform the findings of its recent mapping of child protection practices into concrete tools and guidance, to disseminate the findings to a broad audience in Europe, and to populate the Registry of Good practice for national child protection systems, with concrete, transferable example of mechanisms and good practice that provide inclusive and resilient child protection systems, including in times of crisis. It is also an important opportunity to reinforce the leading role of the CBSS in promoting innovative practices from our region, which form an integral part of child protection systems, Barnahus, in the context of the PROMISE Barnahus Network.