Seeking your participation
Surya Prakash Loonker
Greetings from Udayan Care!
On behalf of Udayan Care, the senior functionaries and Trustees of NGOs, who are dealing with issues of institutionalised children (children in residential care), are invited to an international seminar entitled, ‘Seminar on Standards of Care and Mental Health of Institutionalised Children’ on 14th and 15 March at Amity University, NOIDA.
An event focused on the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation countries (SAARC), the seminar will be an attempt to present good practices on standards of care and mental health as well as assess and discuss mental health issues in institutionalised settings in the South Asian countries.
The necessity for organising this seminar arises from the fact that despite so many children, especially in South Asia, being institutionalised, researchers, policy-makers and activists feel handicapped in improving the protection system they work in, because of insufficient data and knowledge about the current problems and practices at all levels of implementation.
The seminar will bring together relevant audiences from SAARC countries, the administrators of institutions, civil society professionals, mental health workers, and volunteers working with institutionalised children to realise a more comprehensive approach to problems faced by children in need of care and protection.
We expect it to be a great platform for debates and discussions and an inspiring occasion for learning and exchange of ideas on the state of institutionalised children, especially on mental health and how to bridge the gap between policy-makers, academicians and practitioners.
On the occasion, the journal entitled, Institutionalised Children: Explorations and Beyond (IECB), will be launched which will serve as a platform for sharing of information, knowledge enhancement and the development of a dialogue and debate amongst professionals, policy makers, and volunteers working for institutionalised children, about best practices, research findings and studies, legislation, jurisprudence and case law, in relation to such children’s mental health, social development, care and upbringing in alternative modes of institutional care in SAARC countries.
The Seminar & the ICEB Journal are both new undertakings of Udayan Care (www.udayancare.org), that together with the extraordinary support of very committed organisations and professionals in that field, are joining forces to make these two much needed projects, a positive and beneficial reality for children in institutions. For your information, the seminar is in collaboration with organisations like National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) and Amity University. It is also being supported by organisations like Save the Children, CRY India and Vatica. A technical committee comprising of professionals from organisations like Indian Alliance for Child Rights (IACR), Haq Centre for Child Rights, and iPartner, also some others besides the organisations already mentioned, are helping us to put the seminar together.
Recognising that the issue of mental health in institutions for children is a regional concern, the seminar actively invites the experience, analysis and ideas of all the eight countries. All of them are engaged in addressing and improving measures for protective care of children. The potential for sharing of such regional experience of setting rights-based standards for children who have suffered violence, or are at risk, is a key hope of the seminar initiative.
The organisers have especially invited the interest of the ongoing South Asia Initiative to End Violence Against Children(SAIEVAC), and Udayan Care is encouraged by the goodwill response of this regional apex body, and of the India initiative developing in support of the regional mandate.'
It is expected that a significant outcome of this seminar will be to come up with a strategy on the way forward in the case of child rights in institutional care, investing in good practices in mental health care and services. During the conference, the sessions will consist of keynote speeches, plenary sessions and best practice presentations, panel discussions and poster presentations.
To participate in the seminar, fill in the registration form available online. For sending your poster presentations, fill up the application form.
Please click on the link:
http://udayancare.org/seminar-journal/mhs_home.html
We are looking for:
- individuals, as well as organisations, whether NGOs, GOs; who are working in the field of child care and protection; who may be already involved and interested in mental health issues, legal issues, or care and protection mechanisms in relation to children in institutional care; and,
- who may be interested in contributing with a paper, country assessment presentation, poster presentation or participating during the Seminar; and/or,
- would may be interested in contributing articles, becoming part of our editorial board or subscribing to the Journal.
Furthermore, please feel free to also contact:
Dr. Kiran Modi,
Founder Managing Trustee, Udayan Care/ Associate Editor of the Journal “Institutionalised Children: Explorations and Beyond”, on +919810132736, Tel. 011 - 46548105/46548106, kira...@udayancare.org or ICEB-J...@udayancare.org
Thank you very much and we really look forward to count on your support.
Yours sincerely,
Dr Kiran Modi
Managing Trustee
16/97-A, 1st Floor
Vikram Vihar, Lajpat Nagar-IV
New Delhi-110024
Mobile:+91-9810132736, 9810509654
011- 46548105/06
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