Since December 2017, Lumos Colombia started supporting the government and civil society organisations to promote childcare reform, prevent children from entering the protection system and guarantee they live in safe and loving families.
REFORMING INSTITUTIONS TO SUPPORT FAMILIES
Lumos has been working with Fundación Michin to transform its residential institution services to foster care. This has led to 55 children being moved into loving foster homes in the past year alone.
FIRST DOCUMENTED CASE OF DEINSTITUTIONALISATION IN COLOMBIA
Lumos has supported Fundamor, an NGO providing services for HIV-positive children, transforming the institutional care it offered into family-based care.
DELIVERING RESEARCH TO REFORM RURAL EDUCATION
With the Ministry of National Education, Lumos carried out research in 2019 on the situation of children in boarding schools based in the Guaviare region of Colombia—highlighting the importance of rural education reform to help prevent family separation.
There are an additional 35,000 children estimated to be living in over 500 boarding schools that are overseen by the Ministry of Education (MoE).
The Government of Colombia is committed to transforming the national child protection system, with the aim of moving away from institutions and towards family and community-based alternatives that enable children to thrive.
Lumos supports the transformation of the Colombian childcare system through:
In partnership with the Colombian Family Welfare Institute ICBF, Lumos currently has an agreement to develop actions and strategies. This will support the deinstitutionalisation processes and the prevention of the loss of parental care for children. This specifically includes strengthening foster care, developing strategies for successful family reunification, and promoting an action plan for childcare reform—based on the evidence of the protection system.
Lumos Colombia has supported two private residential institutions—Fundamor and Michín Foundation—to assist with their transition toward family care-based programmes.
We directly influence decision-makers to make key steps toward childcare reform. Lumos seeks to influence government through advocacy with civil society organisations, children and young people that are or have had experience in the protection system. This top-down approach gives systematic support to children by strengthening family and community care programmes.
Lumos supports the Secretariat of Social Integration of Bogotá SDIS, with training for professionals and technical support to strengthen family care programs that prevent entry and re-entry into protective institutional care programmes.
Since 2020, Michín Foundation has developed strategies to help family reintegration, including support from psychosocial workers and home visits benefiting more than 200 children in their care. 582 children and 386 careers have also been participating in training to strengthen parental skills and prevent the loss of parental rights
Lumos' work in Bogotá, Colombia, was featured in a podcast, 'Getting kids out of institutions' as part of the 'People Fixing the World' series by ...
Today, Lumos and the British Embassy in Panama brought together global and regional child protection experts to discuss strategies to tackle the institutionalisation of children ...
Lumos has announced that it is now officially registered in Colombia and has launched a programme to support vulnerable children regain their right to a ...
