The Impact of COVID-19 on Residential Care Services for Children: a Call for Family-Based Approach in Alternative Care

Children’s rights and needs are at the center of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, where education is viewed as crucial for providing the opportunities for sustainable, peaceful and equitable coexistence in a changing world. Alternative care settings are educational contexts (Tibollo, 2015) that deal with children in vulnerable conditions (UN General Assembly, 2010). For this reason, they can be considered as a sort of “field test” or “magnifying glass” on how the progress in striving to the implementation of the goals is proceeding – no one must be left behind. The 2020 global pandemic provoked an external shock to current socio-economic dimensions of sustainability. Education has been one of the most struck systems – let’s think of the 1,6 billion learners that have been affected by school closures (UNESCO, 2020)With this global framework in mind, the contribution aims at offering a pedagogical reflection on the impact the Covid-19 pandemic is having on children living in residential care centers (RCC). Worldwide, many RCCs, following the ongoing global pandemic, have been closed with the consequent return of children to their families of origin (CRIN, 2020). This process of deinstitutionalization, however, has not been overseen by rigorous monitoring, leading to increased risks of violence for children. This urges authorities to take carefully planned measures with respect to deinstitutionalisation in light of the COVID-19 pandemic (Goldman, et al., 2020). But Covid-19 is not only a health risk for children in RCCs. Because of the complex impact that the pandemic has had on the lives of children, on one side care responses are required, and on the other psycho-social and educational ones are also crucial (SOS Villaggi dei Bambini Onlus Italy; Save The Children, 2020). In Italy, for example, special guidelines have been drawn up to mitigate the spread of the virus within residential structures, that sometimes are overcrowded (Istituto superiore di sanità; SOS Villaggi dei Bambini Onlus Italia, 2020). In addition, tools have been provided to support the mental health of the children and adolescents that are deprived of opportunities for socialization given the closure of schools. In some cases they are isolated within the services themselves to mitigate the risk of the spread, causing a limitation in the possibility of seeing people outside the institution as their parents. Covid-19 underlines the urgency of promoting family-based alternative care for children. In particular, this paper aims to read through a pedagogical lens, the European scenario of residential services for children, to explore the impact of Covid-19 in these services; and to promote a family-based approach in alternative care preventing the risk of institutionalization in children welcomed.