In mid-July a group of people met at the National Centre for Excellence in Residential Child Care with a view to setting up FICE-England again, as a way of linking with people working with children and young people in other countries. If you would like to take part, email us
Why get involved in international child care? Five reasons
- Now, as never before, children’s interests are world-wide. At official or governmental levels, there has been acknowledgement of the importance of children through treaties such as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the forthcoming convention on the rights of children in care.
- At practice level, work with children has had to become international to cope with the trafficking of children, abuse on the internet, exploitation in child labour and prostitution and the problems arising for children from the high levels of asylum-seeking and economic migration. International collaboration between police, immigration officials and welfare agencies is vital if children are not to suffer.
- In child care circles, professionals can learn a lot from each other. Sometimes, a specific idea can be picked up, such as family case conferencing from the Maoris in New Zealand. Sometimes, similar ideas are being developed in a lot of countries at the same time, and it helps to compare how developments are proceeding. The recent diversification from state provision to rely more on private and voluntary services, for example, has been replicated across Europe. Sometimes, workers from Britain can contribute ideas in conferences, seminars, workshops, publications or through consultancy. Sometimes it is a matter of listening and learning. It is a fascinating fact that brilliant innovatory ideas crop up in all sorts of places. Although the rich and developed countries can afford to undertake research and pilot ideas, the best innovations often come from the poorer countries. Sometimes, it can be an eye-opener to realise that the systems adopted by one’s own country are not the only way to do the job.
- The business of child care and the training and recruitment of workers has now become international. Projects may be funded by the European Union or Government sources, and for bidders to establish their credibility it is often necessary to work in partnership with universities or agencies in other countries. These projects may be time-limited research programmes, but there are also ongoing links between services in different countries. Sometimes these are based on an agency in a developing country adopting an agency in a country with a weaker economy, but the deal may not be one-sided. Contacts between agencies may lead to staffing exchanges and opportunities for recruitment, in which the skills taught to workers in the poorer country may be invaluable to the richer country.
- Finally, there is the straightforward enjoyment of forming friendships with people in other countries, the chance to travel, the fascination in observing the differences of culture and the chance to see something of life in other countries. FICE’s meetings tend to rotate around quite a number of countries, and the hosts often offer opportunities to see aspects of the country which tourists miss.
Why FICE? Three key reasons for involvement
Many people do, of course, create their own links with people in other countries, and there are other bodies such as AIEJI or Eurochild which have their own networks of contacts. But linking through FICE has some real advantages.
- FICE, whose full title is the Federation Internationale des Communautes Educatives, was established nearly sixty years ago. It is made up of about thirty National Sections, mainly in Europe. It has therefore built up networks of contacts between countries and within countries. It has always had strong links between Eastern and Western Europe, for example, and the United Nations awarded FICE the title of Peace Messenger for its impact. Individuals who want to make contact on their own have to start from scratch; through FICE there are people who can explain how things work in another country and can often suggest people who may be able to help.
- FICE has quite a wide range of activities, both internationally and within countries. There are the two-yearly major international Congresses, international conferences run by National Sections, conferences and seminars within countries. There are exchange visits by professionals and children. There is the Professional Experience Programme. There are publications. National Sections in several countries publish their own journals, and FICE-International has recently set up its Editorial Board to produce books. All of these activities are run voluntarily – except where National Sections have paid staff. This means that they are reliant on voluntary effort, but it also means that there is scope for people to follow up their personal interests under the aegis of FICE and use its networks to develop their ideas.
- FICE will be going places in the next few years. Monika Niederle of Austria recently took over as President, and Andrew Hosie of Scotland was elected as Secretary General at the last Federal Council meeting. There are new members joining all the time, and there is a renewed impetus to take action. It is a good time to get on board.
England’s membership of FICE
The UK first joined FICE about 1950, and it has been a member on and off ever since. When the Social Care Association pulled out, Caring for Children was the UK representative for some years, but it was wound up, and the National Children’s Bureau became an Associate Member, linking through the National Centre for Excellence in Residential Child Care. Since FICE-Scotland was set up as a separate National Section about this time, it is planned that the new National Section will relate only to England.
We now need to set up a network of people to act as the core group for FICE-England. How it will work is still to be decided, but the first discussions have taken place. A day conference in London is planned for 18 January 2008, and there is the Congress in Helsinki in the summer of 2008. In due course FICE-England will need to play a role in FICE’s Federal Council meetings, in its Congresses and other projects.
For the present, it needs to get together a list of those interested in taking part. If you’d like to take part, please get in touch.