The Children and Families Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Resource Collection

Ukraine Key Care Recommendations (Responding to children's care in the context of the Ukraine Crisis)

"The Ukraine Key Care Recommendations (Responding to children's care in the context of the Ukraine Crisis) guidance document provides a framework to support child protection practitioners and policymakers working both inside Ukraine and in host countries to implement responses related to children’s care in the context of Ukraine in line with international standards and good practice on children’s care and the provision of alternative care. It includes key recommendations to inform strategic priorities, programme design, and priority interventions and advocacy efforts with policymakers, donors and other key stakeholders. The recommendations concern children without parental or family care, at risk of separation, in alternative care or who have recently left alternative care, including those who have been evacuated from residential care facilities either inside Ukraine or to host countries. Each section considers children in both refugee and internally displaced contexts, as well as children with existing intersecting vulnerabilities, such as children with disabilities and children from ethnic minorities, including Roma or third country nationals. "

Field Handbook on Unaccompanied and Separated Children

This handbook provides operational guidance for child protection staff and other actors working on prevention and response to family separation in emergencies. It sets out to ensure that responses meet agreed inter-agency standards and are appropriate to the particular situation of individual unaccompanied and separated children, emphasizing the importance of working with affected communities, including children themselves. It accompanies the Toolkit (see Linked Resources section). The handbook is divided into a summary guidance section, which collates all the essential actions and tools covered in the handbook and acts as a quick reference guide for practitioners. Detailed guidance on each topic can be found within corresponding chapters in sections one and Two. Section one provides an overview of the legal framework and organizational mandates related to unaccompanied and separated children (UASC), characterizes family separation in emergencies, describes the causes of separation, outlines how to prepare for and prevent separation in emergencies, and how to undertake coordination and assessment. It also covers the basics of UASC programming, case management and information management. Section two provides detailed guidance on immediate needs in emergencies and detailed information on identification, documentation, alternative care, family tracing, verification, reunification, reintegration and cross-sector coordination.

Connect Tools

The CONNECT project aims to support actors involved in responding to the situation of unaccompanied children arriving in Europe. Key issues addressed by these actors include recognition as a child and access to reception services, legal representation and guardianship, the participation of children in procedures, access to education and health services. Other important issues are disappearances from centers, how to determine the best interest of the child and identification of possible child victims of trafficking. Each project country have through pilot projects developed practical tools which can be used by actors across the EU Member States. These tools address specific aspects of how actors address the situation of these children and can be used separately or together as a toolkit: 1. Who's responsible? A tool to strengthen cooperation between actors involved in the protection system for unaccompanied migrant children (Italy) 2. Local cooperation for unaccompanied children: A tool to assess and improve reception condition (Sweden) 3. Standards to esnure that unaccompanied migrant children are able to fully participate: A tool to assist actors in legal and judicial proceedings (The UK) 4. The right to be heard and participation of unaccompanied children: A tool to support the collection of children’s views on protection and reception services (The Netherlands) 5. Working with the unaccompanied child: A tool to support the collection of children’s views on protection and reception services (The Netherlands) 6. Evaluation sheet - End of guardianship form (to be filled in by child).

Communicating with Children About Death and Helping Children Cope with Grief

The 'Communicating with children about death and helping children cope with grief' resource provides guidance for adults on communicating with children about death and helping them cope with grief. Developed during the COVID-19 pandemic, it highlights how children of different ages experience loss and grief, how to talk to them about it and how to help them cope with loss during the pandemic and humanitarian emergencies.

What To Do If You Come Across Children Who are Separated or Reported Missing

This is a one-page resource on what to do if you come across children who are separated or reported missing. It provides clear steps to be taken if a child is separated from their usual caregivers, including their parents or other family member, or if a child is reported missing. This includes children who are presumed to be orphans. It is developed by the Child Protection Global Protection Cluster.

Toolkit on Unaccompanied and Separated Children

The toolkit was produced by the Inter-Agency Working Group on Unaccompanied and Separated Children (UASC) to provide technical guidance to support the implementation of the core principles for working with these children. It highlights key international instruments and guidelines relating to unaccompanied and separated children, including a series of tools and sample documents for use in programming. It accompanies the Field Handbook (see Linked Resources section).

Supporting and Responding to Forcibly Displaced Children: Training Module for Child Helpline Counsellors

The Supporting and Responding to Forcibly Displaced Children Training Module for Child Helpline Counsellors aims to enhance child helpline counsellors’ knowledge and support for children on the move, specifically those who have been forcibly displaced. By taking this module, child helpline counsellors will be able to follow a child’s journey from pre-flight, during flight and after flight while learning about the key concepts and issues associated with each phase of the flight. Case studies and self-reflection exercises are also found throughout the training module along with a final assessment to help child helpline counsellors evaluate their knowledge and contemplate on the key concepts, case stories and programmes they previously studied.

Child Safe Programming and Safeguarding in Interim Centres

The Child Safe Programming and Safeguarding in Interim Centres outlines some of the potential safeguarding risks children face in Interim Care Centres. The guidance note identifies three main ways that children can be harmed: by people, by programmes and processes, and by the physical environment. The guidance note provides information on safeguarding from sexual exploitation abuse and harassment (SEAH), and other risks to children's well-being including neglect, emotional abuse and unsafe environments. There are also suggestions for how these risks can be mitigated to ensure that children are as safe as possible.

Child Protection in Emergency Shelters for Refugees: A checklist for temporary accommodation for children and families

The Child Protection in Emergency Shelters for Refugees: A checklist for temporary accommodation for children and families presents the most important protection requirements for refugee children, young people and their families and ensures these are met, based on tried and tested quality assessment tool, “the children’s rights check”. This checklist is intended to help operators and staff to determine the situation regarding children’s rights in a shelter, and if necessary, to quickly initiate measures to improve the situation. For this purpose, five quality areas were chosen: Protection, health, participation and the cross-cutting areas of human resources and infrastructure. To check how well you are positioned to meet the needs of children, young people and their families, we translated these categories into everyday observations. Tick off the things that are already going well and highlight the areas where you still need to make adjustments. This will allow you to recognise those areas that require further action. The check list is aimed at shelters where people stay for approximately 24 to 48 hours.

Child Protection Issue Brief: Mental health and psychosocial wellbeing of children

The Child Protection Issue Brief: Mental health and psychosocial wellbeing of children presents recommendations for strong collaboration between specialists and sectors to ensure a holistic and child-centered response that fosters the well-being of displaced and refugee children. It aims to preserve and improve the well-being of displaced and refugee children by mainstreaming psychosocial support in all aspects of its work and implementing specific psychosocial support programmes. The mitigation of immediate and long-term risks and consequences for the mental health and psychosocial well-being of individuals, families and communities is a core part of UNHCR’s protection mandate.