Home-based: Child Protection Consultant (36 working days between Feb 2024 and Mar 2025) – Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (ECARO)

• Country: Geneva, Switzerland
• No of vacancies: N/A
  
• Salary: N/A 
• Organization: UNICEF
• Gender: Both
• Deadline: 2024-02-03

Scope of Work

Under the supervision of the Child Protection Specialist the consultant will provide technical support to UNICEF Europe and Central Asia Regional Office in developing a working paper on what constitutes a good statutory family support service established as part of an effective gatekeeping system and continuum of child care services.

Under this background the paper aims to:

1. examine the role of the statutory family support services in the continuum of child protection and alternative care for children services in societies where they are well-established and in the societies undertaking transition from reliance on institutional care to family and community-based care;
2. examine the links with (non-statutory) family strengthening services and programmes, including parenting programmes, delivered to families with children in need of additional support;
3. provide normative guidance on what constitutes a good quality statutory family support service and the key methodological, organizational, and financial elements for an effective provision of family support services;
4. identify strategies to boost the development of statutory family support services as part of the child protection and gatekeeping system and continuum of child care services.

The paper should provide answers to questions frequently asked by policy makers and practitioners:

1. What is a statutory family support service? What are the common elements of a statutory family support service across countries with developed child protection systems (i.e. case management protocols, links to a formal gate-keeping mechanism, level of qualification and training requirements for the family support social workers, links to any judicial mechanisms, etc.).
2. What is the difference between a statutory family support service and other family strengthening services and programmes, including parenting programmes? How is family support for prevention of family separation is different from family support for child reintegration and family reunification?
3. What are the things to consider by the authorities while designing the legal and normative framework for a statutory family support service (legislation, standards, social work qualification requirements, pre-service and in-service training and professional supervision, necessary case management procedures/protocol, referral pathways, interagency and interdisciplinary collaboration etc.).
4. How to ensure financial resources are allocated for the development and delivery of statutory family support services? Where should these funds come from? How to ensure reallocation of funds from closing down institutions to the family support and other prevention services?
5. What are promising practises in the system for professional supervision and performance management of family support social workers?
6. What elements of the statutory family support services could be commissioned to NGO and other private providers? What licensing and inspection frameworks should be developed to ensure quality of statutory family support services?

Methodology

To increase our understanding of the role of statutory family support services in modern child protection systems and to further inform the UNICEF work with governments in the ECA region in child protection system strengthening, UNICEF will support a review of the development and use of the statutory family support services in ECA region, including EU and other parts of the world, where statutory family support services are provided to families with children where there is a risk for the child to be separated from the birth family temporarily or permanently and placed in out-of-home care.

The review will consist of a desk review, key informant interviews, in-depth interviews in a group of selected countries where statutory family support services exist and are effective in gate-keeping children outside of care system. The review will also include inputs from an External Reference Group of experts (ERG).

The review will be designed with the participation of key governments across the ECA region who express the willingness to learn and implement real changes in their child care systems. These governments will be invited to join active review and reflection groups, where the concepts can be translated into their national contexts.

A desk review will compile existing secondary data on the use of statutory family support services and family strengthening services, exploring the links and differences between these two, looking specifically at their role in the gatekeeping system and as part of the continuum of child care services. Secondary sources of relevant data will include data collected by governments, as well as by major NGOs and private bodies supporting the development of family support and family strengthening services and programmes. The desk review will also scan existing literature and documents for evidence of government plans that aimed to develop family support services as part of Deinstitutionalization and childcare reforms.

Key informant interviews will inform the data collection process and will be carried out with identified experts, including members of the External Reference Group. In-depth interviews will be held with a number of stakeholders and with representatives of UNICEF country offices in the countries where the development of statutory family support services is taking off successfully.

Work Assignment Overview

Estimated Duration of the Contract

36 working days between February 2024 and March 2025.

Consultant’s Work Place and Official Travel

The Consultant will be remote/home-based with no travel foreseen.

Estimated Cost of the Consultancy & Payment Schedule

Payment will be made on submission of an invoice and satisfactory completion of the above-mentioned deliverables. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold all or a portion of payment if performance is unsatisfactory, if work/outputs are incomplete, not delivered or for failure to meet deadlines. All materials developed will remain the copyright of UNICEF and UNICEF will be free to adapt and modify them in the future.

Please submit a professional fee (in USD) based on 36 working days to undertake this assignment.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

• Master’s degree in education, sociology, social work, or another relevant field
• Minimum eight (8) years of progressively responsible professional work experience in child protection, child protection system strengthening and childcare reform, inclusive education at the national or international levels.
• Knowledge of childcare and child protection reforms processes is desirable.
• Knowledge of the ECA region is an advantage.
• Excellent analytical and written skills.
• Experience in conducting research.
• Fluency in English (oral and written).

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