On this matter, in 2017, the Parliament requested the European Commission to implement a preparatory action on establishing a possible child guarantee scheme. To that end, the Commission has ordered a Study on the feasibility of a Child Guarantee for Vulnerable Children.
The study develops a complete analysis of the design, governance and implementation of existing schemes and compare these to the added value of a child guarantee scheme focusing on the following target groups:
- Children living in precarious family situations
- Children residing in institutions
- Children of recent migrants and refugees
- Children with disabilities and other children with special needs
We have participated in preparation of the intermediate report, in addition to the Target Group Discussion on Children living in precarious family situations with the objective of finding the evidences that should be taken into consideration when devising a future European Child Guarantee. Some of them:
- A future Child Guarantee that manages to reach out to children living in precarious family situations needs to mobilize all three policy instruments that are at the disposition of the Commission: legislation, policy coordination and funding.
- The first 1,000 days are vital for the future of each child. Investing in early intervention is both economically and socially cost effective
- It is particularly important to pay attention to situations of vulnerabilities that might be new or have been unattended so far. Amongst these are: children in families that experience domestic violence, children of imprisoned parents, young carers, children who return from migration…
- Child participation is important. Listening to the voices of children and youth improves the quality of public policies and engages young citizens with our common institutions. To that end, binding mechanisms and procedures need to be devised
- European funds are an important trigger for extending the rights of the children living in Europe. However, they should complement not compensate. A more rigorous monitoring of impact is needed
For more information: https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=1428&langId=en
Related documents: Case studies on the effectiveness of funding programmes – Key findings and study reports (2019), Target Group Discussion Paper on Children in Alternative Care (2019), Target Group Discussion Paper on Children with Disabilities (2019), Target Group Discussion Paper on Children with a Migrant Background (including Refugee Children) (2019)