Panic is growing because an economic crisis looms. Trade wars have been initiated, though there is a lot of uncertainty over who will go how far and when, as well as whether anyone will back down. The economic threat is compounded by extreme and sudden cutbacks in funding for foreign development projects, something that even in the medium term will prove not to save any money at all – quite the opposite – despite claims. In short, things look dire, and people feel desperate and powerless. Despite the dystopian feel of the moment, the very bleakness and desperation that makes it so might actually provide an opportunity to achieve real, sustainable change and improvement. We might have reached the point where politicians might just be desperate enough to be willing to listen to ‘crazy ideas’.
Continue reading “Saving the Economy… Through Social Reform”Tag: #childprotectionreform
Getting Started: First Step
Aside from spreading awareness about the impact of trauma and how to get beyond it, through this website and the book I am working on, I also want to apply the knowledge to set real changes in motion. I am delighted that over the past year, I have gone from a powerful but vague sense of how to make a major difference in the world through addressing trauma to a very concrete plan for how I can do something about that in a practical sense. As it turns out, it lies at the heart of the work I have been doing for the past 18 years. Its outline still sounds grandiose and theoretical: Radical child protection reform that goes beyond addressing symptoms and kicking the can down the road. But I have found a simple, practical starting point.
Continue reading “Getting Started: First Step”Reforming Child Protection Systems, Globally
Currently, child protection reform is generally understood as a move from residential to family-based alternative care and a need to build strong gatekeeping mechanisms. Moreover, many see it as something that needs to happen ‘over there, in the global South’, because ‘over here’ the system works, it just needs some fine-tuning and minor improvements. In this fine-tuning, the increasing trend of adding on trauma-informed practices is seen as a breakthrough and major improvement (don’t get me wrong, I’m not disputing that this is certainly a lot better than not having them). I have come to view this very differently.
Continue reading “Reforming Child Protection Systems, Globally”