ICSE caring for children

CARING for CHILDREN is the UK National Section of FICE, an International Association for People caring for Children and Young People outside their own Families. FICE has on sultative Status with UNESCO, UNICEF, ECOSOC and the Council of Europe

FICE = Federation Internationale de Communautes Educatives

CARING FOR CHILDREN:

Chair: Marion Thorpe

Vice Chair: Keith White

Treasurer: Vacant

Convenors:

Wales:
Chris Clode

Child Care Practice:
John Blythman

Education:
T.B.A.

Secretary:
Kathleen Lane ukfice@hotmail.com

What is FICE ?

The Federation Internationale des Communautes Educatives is a world-wide organisation for staff working with children and young people in a variety of settings outside their natural family homes.

You can visit the FICE web site at www.freeweb.org/associazioni/fice/

The business of the organisation is managed by two Federal Council meetings each year, which are usually held in the spring and autumn in various member countries, and hosted by the National FICE Sections. Within the context of the Federal Council meetings it has become the custom to use the opportunity of having delegates from a wide variety of countries and different disciplines to hold day seminars. These seminars are mainly for the benefit of workers from the host country, who may not otherwise get many opportunities to meet colleagues from abroad and share some of their thinking.

See Kathleen Lane's article "Footloose in FICE"
this month.
Click here

READ THE PAPERS HERE

Often the host National Section will attempt to gather together the papers and publish them subsequently. But you will probably know that it can be difficult to persuade contributors to send in their written contributions and there can be big time lags before the collection finally appears. In future in children.uk we shall endeavour to bring you some of the papers while they are still are still fresh.

In October 1999 the Federal Council met in Hungary. This time the Day Seminar was very special because it was part of the Tenth Birthday Celebrations of the re-founding of FICE Hungary after the fall of communism in 1989. The Minister of Social Affairs and the Family actually addressed members of the Federal Council and formally opened the first session. Another Government representative spoke at the Day Seminar of the contribution made by FICE Hungary in developing services for children and young people in the last ten years. So we were left with the impression of FICE Hungary being a busy, strong and influential force in the country recognised for working actively with and for its children.

The Minister's speech and three papers from the Day Seminar which will appear in children.uk, to give some idea of the enrichment which can come from participating in FICE events.

It should be noted that the Danish and German contributors gave their papers in English, a feat few of us could perform in the other FICE languages of French and German. All three papers have been reproduced in their original format of 'talks' rather than written papers. My contribution was meant to be light hearted and amusing since it was given in the notorious 'after-lunch spot'. No offence is therefore intended to all those working to high standards in children's services in the UK, nor to those who have been busy forming links and building international partnerships for many years.

NEWS

TREASURER
John Hudson has resigned as treasurer of the Association for personal reasons. Nominations for the post of treasurer are being sought from members.

There is a small amount of bookkeeping to be undertaken but the Treasurer's main responsibilities will be to help the Association develop its financial strategy.

For further information, please contact Kathleen Lane - ukfice@hotmail.com

LETTERS, ISSUES AND IDEAS
Letters of all types on any issues to do with child care are welcome for the newssheet. This is not a change of policy - as certain Government Ministers would say - we are simply clarifying what has been policy all along.

Seriously though, Council wants to encourage a wider range of discussion about ideas and issues of interest to members and one way of doing this is through a letters page.

If you are not a letter writer but would like to put forward an issue or idea on child care, please feel free to write it in an e-mail and send it to ukfice@hotmail.com

_________________________________________________________________________

THE INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF EDUCATIVE COMMUNITIIES (FICE)

IS LOOKING FOR

volunteers to take part in an International team of professional child-care workers being set up within the framework of the Project Educateurs sans Frontieres to intervene in emergency situations on behalf of children in distress

SCOPE TRAINING PROCEDURE

Relief recipients:
countries in crisis, due to civil war, natural disasters or social and economic emergencies

Team
International consisting of 15-20 professionals (care workers, social workers, psychologists, etc) under the leadership of a project co-ordinator

Tasks
Mobilising local resources in the fields of care and education Promoting communication with government agencies Co-ordinating co-operation with other NGO's Developing projects in the interest of the children concerned

Duration
Between three and six weeks; the team will not engage in emergency relief activities (food supplies, hygiene, medical care)

Logistics
FICE will make its team available to international organisations such as UNHCR, UNICEF and other bodies (EU, governments) for specific projects

Costs
Travel costs and the costs for room and board during an intervention will be covered by the project. The volunteer workers will not receive any remuneration

Target group
Members of international teams of care workers

Where?
Ecole superieurs d'educateurs sociaux in Echyrolles (Grenoble). France

When?
Monday 24 to Saturday 29 July 2000

Contents
The work of international relief organisations (UNHCR, UNICEF, Red Cross) ethics of international co-operation, intervention methods

Participants
15-20 professionals, selected by the national FICE members

Trainers
Experts in international relief co-operation

Costs
Participants must cover travel expenses and costs of accommodation (€180) themselves. If subsidies are obtained, these costs may be, at least partly, refunded

Candidates
All candidates interested in participating in the Project must fulfil the following criteria:

Proficiency in the English language (training will be provided in English and English will be the working language in the team)
Completed and professionally recognised training in the child care sector
A minimum of three years of experience in child care work

Applications
Applications accompanied by a CV should be submitted by 1 March 2000 to:
Schauminkai 101-103
D-60596 Frankfurt, Germany

Information meeting
Candidates with the required qualifications will be invited to an information meeting

Training and Service
The selected candidates will take part in the training programme and later on, in service interventions

1 WHAT IS CARING for CHILDREN ?

1.1 The credentials of Caring for Children are essentially set out on our official stationery. We are the UK National Section of an international organisation, which was set up in Europe at the end of the Second World War to support staff working with the thousands of children who then had to be cared for outside their familial homes.

1.2 The UK joined FICE at an early stage, but later withdrew over concerns about the management and lack of accountability particularly in financial matters.

1.3 As a result of an initiative largely inspired by Haydn Davies-Jones, formerly of Newcastle University where he was for many years associated with the SCCRYP Course, the UK returned to FICE some ten years ago with Social Care Association as its membership conduit.

1.4 SCA was instrumental in setting up Caring for Children, which was destined to be an SCA Special Interest Group. Unfortunately SCA members decided that international involvement was too costly. Caring for Children was therefore launched to stand alone and has continued as the UK National Section recognised by FICE.

1.5 Several founder members of the Executive Council of FICE UK came to an end of their possible tenure of office in January 1999. The new Council has reviewed the progress which the original Council had made in setting up the new organisation and set some further objectives for the future.

1.6 The first key decision was that CfC is ideally placed to become a non-aligned forum, able to speak out on behalf of children, young people and their carers.

1.7 The second decision is that a start should be made now to draw together ideas about what ought to be included in the next legislation affecting children and their families and/or their carers in order to influence government at an early enough stage to have a real impact.

1.8 CfC Executive Council Members also took a decision not to simply respond to the report of the Waterhouse Enquiry. It was felt that it was to the greater benefit of children and young people to create and maintain an active campaign which keeps issues of training, staff selection, development and supervision and proper resources for both cared for and carers at the top of the political agenda.

2.
HOW DOES FICE WORK ?

2.1 FICE has consultative status with UNESCO, UNICEF, ECOSOC and the Council of Europe.

2.2 There are FICE National Sections in most Western European Countries, many former Eastern bloc countries, in North America, Israel and South Africa.

2.3 There are also links with organisations or individuals in India, Japan and Australasia.

2.4 One distinguishing feature of FICE is that it kept links with countries behind the Iron Curtain throughout the Cold War. In more recent years we have heard from colleagues in these countries how important those links were, although as we have also discovered, they were forbidden to have any personal contact with individuals outside of the formal Federal Council Meetings.

2.5 Each National Section has a unique profile, mainly determined by the energy of individuals in a particular country. On the whole most sections have a mixture of organisational and individual members. Some are quite affluent, have offices and paid staff. Others are substantially supported by major agencies or the government of their country. Some FICE Sections are well respected and have significant influence in child care politics in their countries.

2.6 FICE business is conducted by the Federal Council which meets twice a year in the various member countries. Two representatives from each national section can attend and vote on issues discussed. Each National Section reports on its activities and offers other members opportunities to participate in future events. For example the Czech Republic normally invites groups of young people to participate in summer camps. At present Hungary is trying to gain support for a South-East Europe Conference and an associated peace camp for children.

2.7 Normally the section hosting the Federal Council also runs a day seminar to which all child care workers are invited, thereby capitalising on the wealth of talent from the other member countries at very little cost.

2.8 The Executive Committee, consisting of the President, Treasurer and General Secretary meet between the Federal Councils to manage the work and plan ahead.

2.9 The major involvement for members is in the General Assembly held within the
framework of the International Congresses which are held every two years and hosted by different National Sections. The next Congress will be in May 2000 in Maastricht.

2.10 At the General Assembly members vote for the next President, Treasurer and General Secretary. The General Assembly also votes on the admission of new National Sections.

3.
FICE Europe

3.1 FICE Europe was set up two years ago as a means of attracting money for various FICE initiatives from the European Union. It consists of countries which are members of the Council of Europe. It was also intended to be the European platform enabling FICE International to carry out pioneering work in Africa, Asia and South America, all of which have areas with chaotic conditions for children similar to those which led to the original founding of FICE.

3.2 FICE Eu planned an exciting programme of seminars in member countries. However it was difficult to sustain because each seminar has to be conducted in two of the FICE languages ( French, German or English ) in order to obtain funding.

3.3 At the Federal Council Meeting in Florence in May 1999 it was agreed to hand the management of the FICE Professional Exchange Programme to FICE EU also.

4.
WHAT IS PEP ?

4.1 The Professional Exchange Programme was originally set up as a service by FICE members for FICE members.

4.2 Its purpose is to offer experienced child care workers the opportunity to have a placement in other FICE member countries for up to three months in order to carry out a specific project to further their own professional development.

There will be more information about the re-launch of PEP available to CfC members in the next issue of children.uk.

5.
EDUCATEURS sans FRONTIERES

5.1 This is the most recent FICE initiative which was featured in the first issue of children.uk.

5.2 It is an attempt, based on the Medecins sans Frontieres model, to prepare teams of skilled child care workers to move into crisis areas such as Kosovo or Mozambique and assist local agencies to set up services for children once the initial feeding and housing programmes have been organised.

Chair:	Marion Thorpe
Vice Chair:	Keith White
Treasurer:	Vacant
Convenors:
Wales:	Chris Clode
Child Care Practice:	John Blythman
Education:	T.B.A.
Secretary:	Kathleen Lane	ukfice@hotmail.com

1	WHAT IS CARING for CHILDREN ?
	1.1 The credentials of Caring for Children are essentially set out on our official stationery. We are the UK National Section of an international organisation, which was set up in Europe at the end of the Second World War to support staff working with the thousands of children who then had to be cared for outside their familial homes. 1.2 The UK joined FICE at an early stage, but later withdrew over concerns about the management and lack of accountability particularly in financial matters. 1.3 As a result of an initiative largely inspired by Haydn Davies-Jones, formerly of Newcastle University where he was for many years associated with the SCCRYP Course, the UK returned to FICE some ten years ago with Social Care Association as its membership conduit. 1.4 SCA was instrumental in setting up Caring for Children, which was destined to be an SCA Special Interest Group. Unfortunately SCA members decided that international involvement was too costly. Caring for Children was therefore launched to stand alone and has continued as the UK National Section recognised by FICE. 1.5 Several founder members of the Executive Council of FICE UK came to an end of their possible tenure of office in January 1999. The new Council has reviewed the progress which the original Council had made in setting up the new organisation and set some further objectives for the future. 1.6 The first key decision was that CfC is ideally placed to become a non-aligned forum, able to speak out on behalf of children, young people and their carers. 1.7 The second decision is that a start should be made now to draw together ideas about what ought to be included in the next legislation affecting children and their families and/or their carers in order to influence government at an early enough stage to have a real impact. 1.8 CfC Executive Council Members also took a decision not to simply respond to the report of the Waterhouse Enquiry. It was felt that it was to the greater benefit of children and young people to create and maintain an active campaign which keeps issues of training, staff selection, development and supervision and proper resources for both cared for and carers at the top of the political agenda.
2.	HOW DOES FICE WORK ?
	2.1 FICE has consultative status with UNESCO, UNICEF, ECOSOC and the Council of Europe. 2.2 There are FICE National Sections in most Western European Countries, many former Eastern bloc countries, in North America, Israel and South Africa. 2.3 There are also links with organisations or individuals in India, Japan and Australasia. 2.4 One distinguishing feature of FICE is that it kept links with countries behind the Iron Curtain throughout the Cold War. In more recent years we have heard from colleagues in these countries how important those links were, although as we have also discovered, they were forbidden to have any personal contact with individuals outside of the formal Federal Council Meetings. 2.5 Each National Section has a unique profile, mainly determined by the energy of individuals in a particular country. On the whole most sections have a mixture of organisational and individual members. Some are quite affluent, have offices and paid staff. Others are substantially supported by major agencies or the government of their country. Some FICE Sections are well respected and have significant influence in child care politics in their countries. 2.6 FICE business is conducted by the Federal Council which meets twice a year in the various member countries. Two representatives from each national section can attend and vote on issues discussed. Each National Section reports on its activities and offers other members opportunities to participate in future events. For example the Czech Republic normally invites groups of young people to participate in summer camps. At present Hungary is trying to gain support for a South-East Europe Conference and an associated peace camp for children. 2.7 Normally the section hosting the Federal Council also runs a day seminar to which all child care workers are invited, thereby capitalising on the wealth of talent from the other member countries at very little cost. 2.8 The Executive Committee, consisting of the President, Treasurer and General Secretary meet between the Federal Councils to manage the work and plan ahead. 2.9 The major involvement for members is in the General Assembly held within the framework of the International Congresses which are held every two years and hosted by different National Sections. The next Congress will be in May 2000 in Maastricht. 2.10 At the General Assembly members vote for the next President, Treasurer and General Secretary. The General Assembly also votes on the admission of new National Sections.
3.	FICE Europe
	3.1 FICE Europe was set up two years ago as a means of attracting money for various FICE initiatives from the European Union. It consists of countries which are members of the Council of Europe. It was also intended to be the European platform enabling FICE International to carry out pioneering work in Africa, Asia and South America, all of which have areas with chaotic conditions for children similar to those which led to the original founding of FICE. 3.2 FICE Eu planned an exciting programme of seminars in member countries. However it was difficult to sustain because each seminar has to be conducted in two of the FICE languages ( French, German or English ) in order to obtain funding. 3.3 At the Federal Council Meeting in Florence in May 1999 it was agreed to hand the management of the FICE Professional Exchange Programme to FICE EU also.
4.	WHAT IS PEP ?
	4.1 The Professional Exchange Programme was originally set up as a service by FICE members for FICE members. 4.2 Its purpose is to offer experienced child care workers the opportunity to have a placement in other FICE member countries for up to three months in order to carry out a specific project to further their own professional development. There will be more information about the re-launch of PEP available to CfC members in the next issue of children.uk.
5.	EDUCATEURS sans FRONTIERES
	5.1 This is the most recent FICE initiative which was featured in the first issue of children.uk. 5.2 It is an attempt, based on the Medecins sans Frontieres model, to prepare teams of skilled child care workers to move into crisis areas such as Kosovo or Mozambique and assist local agencies to set up services for children once the initial feeding and housing programmes have been organised.