External placement: «Finding the right path is no easy task»
Mr Woodtli, today many experts are of the opinion that children who cannot live at home with their parents are better off in foster families than in institutions.
The argument about whether homes or foster families are better has been around for as long as they have existed. Fortunately, it is now outdated: Homes have become more familiar, foster families more professional. Foster families and homes have each adopted the strengths of the other. The contrasts and the respective disadvantages have become smaller. Today, both types are available to us as genuine and good options.
Whether curative education homes, assisted living or professionalised foster families: the range on offer today is immense. How do you find the right facility for each individual child?
Various criteria play a role here: the age of the child, the duration of the placement, the specific care requirements, but also the wishes and ideas of all those affected.
Do you have an example?
Suppose the parents are accused of a criminal offence and have to be remanded in custody. In this case, it may be necessary to keep the child for a few days or weeks. If there are no options within the family, it is then advisable to place the child in a care home. If the judgement has been made and the child needs to be placed with someone else for a longer period of time, a foster family is more suitable. However, it always depends on how the parents feel about the measure in question. Would they prefer their child to be placed in a home or a family? It is very important to take this into account so that the child can better accept the new living situation.
It's hard to imagine parents voluntarily leaving their child in someone else's care.
Oh yes, they do. In eight out of ten cases, the people concerned are sympathetic and co-operate with the authorities, albeit sometimes out of necessity. In these «voluntary» cases, the child and youth welfare centres (kjz) in the canton of Zurich are responsible together with the municipalities. Of course, this also requires intensive support for the families, with the aim of finding a solution that is in the best interests of the child and that all parties can live with. In other cases where the child's welfare is at risk but the parents cannot be persuaded to take any measures, the KESB must intervene. It has the task of ordering a measure to protect the child that leads to an improvement in the situation.
The work of the KESB is now often criticised. Take the case in Flaach ZH, which took place at Christmas 2014: a mother killed her two children so that she didn't have to take them back to the home after the holidays. Where the KESB had placed them.
Yes, extraordinarily tragic and, as we now know, completely unforeseeable for everyone involved! Of course, it is always better if the placement is made in careful consultation with the parents. But in rare cases this is simply not possible. Then you have to work on it afterwards.
Which doesn't always seem to work.
The authorities are always caught between either acting too early or too late - and thus possibly jeopardising the child's welfare. Finding the right path is no easy task.
