RoHINGA Children Fear does not fade when the sun rises

The unprecedented wave of unaccompanied, separated, raped and tortured children reached Bangladesh from Myanmar . And yet, their stories are untold.

So far about I million new refugees arrived over 60% of the refugee population and approximately 12% of these children are unaccompanied or separated.

Although young refugees are often resilient, many experience mental health difficulties, including PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), depression, anxiety and grief.

Organisations responding to refugee situation initially start with the child friendly space as an alternative care system and psycho social support for the vulnerable children and adolescents . In fact these centers revealed the need of initiating some special interventions for the children who have nowhere to go Traditional Ideas of opening orphanage for the refugee children vehemently opposed by the Child Rights organisations and advocated for a community based solution

“Spontaneous foster families “ and The purpose of the community-based child protection programme was to strengthen the protective environment in the camps to prevent and respond to protection concerns of the most vulnerable children. After exploring different options a community based foster system introduced in the camps. There are : “Spontaneous foster families “ and “contracted or motivated foster families”. Key activities 1. Assessment of the situation 2. Design of the alternative care system 3. Establishing a community-based child protection work force 4. Selection and capacity building of case workers 5. Support and supervision of community workers

Positive Impact Increased reporting of child protection concerns Monitoring of vulnerable girls and boys Changing community perceptions and support to vulnerable children Challenges Registration and tracking of the unaccompanied / separated children Human resource requirements Turnover of Trained staff – Delayed and bureaucratic procedure for approval Supervised independent living cost- and resource intensive Increased ExPECTATION of the foster families

Lessons • In situations with high numbers of extremely vulnerable children, a community-based case worker mechanism can be a rather effective structure to support the case management system Community case workers such as Community Mobilisers and Para-Social workers enable an increased coverage • At the camp level, the deployment of Community Engagement Officers is very crucial. While it is important to provide care arrangements in line with children’s preference and cultural practices, the feasibility of temporary care arrangements like supervised independent living have to be carefully assessed. • Employing different types of case workers work well in this context as they could provide appropriate care and protection to children with various levels of protection needs, from low to high risk concerns.

But a LONG WAY TO GO- (MaMTA GRIHO ?)