Part one of this study relates to Figure 1, and gives an overview of the management of separated and unaccompanied children, following disasters in Iran. Part two relates to Figure 2, and will describe the role of NGOs specifically in the management of separated and unaccompanied children, following the Bam earthquake.
Part One: Overview of the Management of Separated and Unaccompanied Children, following Disasters in Iran
The three parties below are the main figures involved in the management of separated and unaccompanied children, following disasters in Iran:
1. Iranian Red Crescent Organisation
2. Committee Emdad Imam Khomeini National organisation unique to Iran that is protected by the government and supported by public contributions)
3. Behzisti (Government Welfare Organisation of Iran)
Despite the fact that some of the organisations included in this study are not strictly NGOs, most are still regarded as NGOs in the broader sense and all have central roles in the care of separated and unaccompanied children, following disasters in Iran. Therefore, the responsibilities of these agencies must be outlined in order to give a more complete picture of the management process, and put the role of NGOs in context.
Behzisti (Government Welfare Organisation of Iran)
Behzisti is responsible for separated and unaccompanied children in Iran. However, these children are not necessarily separated or unaccompanied as a result of a disaster:
"Children come into the care of Behzisti because they have gotten lost, they have been abandoned in places like mosques, they have been found by the police ... legally all children in these circumstances should be brought to Behzisti" (Interview 14)
As a number of children are inevitably separated or unaccompanied following a disaster, Behzisti is active immediately after a disaster occurs and continues it's work into the long term phases of the management process:
"Immediately after a disaster we [Behzisti] setup camps with psychiatrists, psychologists and social relief workers
..." (Interview 13)
When a child has become separated from their family, for whatever reason, the main aim is to search for the child's family and reunite them, where possible and suitable:
"...after investigating the circumstances to see why the child was left...our main aim is to return these children to their families." (Interview 14)
When reunification is not an option children are placed in residential care either in the private (NGOs) or public sector:
"60% of the services for guardian-less children are provided in co-operation with the private sector, and 40% are carried out by the public sector." (Interview 15)
According to Behzisti, NGOs who are given children to care for have to uphold certain standards set by Behzisti. They also provide financial assistance and regular supervision:
" ..we do give these [guardian-less] children to NGOs, these foundations work under our supervision receiving financial and consultative assistance... an NGO who gets a child from us, if they don't maintain our standards, we take the child back from them..." (Interview 13)
"Standards relating to the building [where children are housed] also need to be upheld.. for every 8 children there should be at least one carer, and each centre should have at least three instructors, working on a shift bases so they change every 8 to 12 hours...each child should also have a private room, and there should be social spaces and spaces to study." (Interview 15)
Committee Emdad Imam Khomeini
Committee Emdad Imam Khomeini, a national organisation unique to Iran, was established officially following the Islamic revolution. The organisation aims to:
"... bridge the gap between those who are wealthy and those who are not....we are protected by the government and we are supported by public contributions." (Interview 3)
One of Committee Emdad Imam Khomeini's specific duties is the "support of needy people and families against the problems coming from accidents and natural and non-natural disasters" [17].
Committee Emdad Imam Khomeini assesses each individual crisis situation and then provides what is needed to the best of their ability. Specifically for orphans, Committee Emdad Imam Khomeini has an 'OrphansRespect Plan':
"...orphans are protected by someone who is wealthy...the wealthy person pays a monthly amount into the orphans account...this financial assistance is conveyed to the orphans or their families through Committee Emdad..." (Interview 3)
"People who use this service are under the care of Committee Emdad. People who don't use this service are under the care of Behzisti of the whole country." (Interview 6)
Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs)
The support and/or care provided by NGOs takes several forms, but it is often not exclusive to separated and unaccompanied children. Where this is the case, children are not necessarily in their circumstance as a result of a disaster:
Residential care in the form of small group homes
"...everything is like a home here, just like at home children go out to school...go out to the doctors...we don't even have a sign up outside our organisation as homes don't have signs up outside so we don't have one either ..." (Interview 9)
Financial assistance and provision of furniture
"...all our children have mothers...we give the families a set amount every month...we check how they use it...we assess what equipment they need and try to provide it...and check that it is still there on a regular basis..." (Interview 20)
"...if a child was cared for by their aunt, in case this aunt didn't have home appliances, we gave them an oven, a fridge...to prevent them from having problems with caring for the child..." (Interview 11)
"...following the Bam earthquake, we support 40 children financially...giving them a monthly allowance..." (Interview 10)
Arrangement of educational and extra-curricular activities
"Most of our work is teaching children activities of daily living. Also we do some exciting games and we teach painting." (Interview 25)
"...part of our target group also is separated and unaccompanied children...we have some workshops like music classes, computers..." (Interview 28)
Psychosocial support
"...PTSD [Post Traumatic Stress Disorder] techniques were within the framework of play...games included playing the life train...within this we familiarised children with death, at some stations people got off the train, representing death, at other stops people got on, representing birth..." (Interview 24)
"...all our children have social problems at first, all our carers are trained to deal with these problems and make sure the children are happy..." (Interview 9)
Provision of emergency relief supplies
"...we usually participate in natural disasters by providing aid and equipment such as blankets, food..." (Interview 10)
Family Reunification Project
The overwhelming nature of the Bam earthquake lead UNICEF and Behzisti in Kerman to form a joint partnership called the Family Reunification Project, between December 29th 2003 and December 26th 2005, to help reunify families who had become separated as a result of the disaster.
"...the main objective of this agreement being to organise and follow up issues related to children under 18 years of age who have lost their families and parents...." (Interview 23)
Due to the success of the project, it is now continuing with the support of Behzisti:
"...we learned a lot from our experience with UNICEF during this time...and now having seen our results, Behzisti is supporting our project..." (Interview 23)
Management of Separated and Unaccompanied Children
Reasons for Separation
The scale of the disaster provoked an excessive number of agencies to come to Bam, making the area chaotic and meaning that work was uncoordinated, especially as there was no clear organisation in charge:
"...people came to help and to do good, but they made the situation even worse. Some of the children got lost...In English I think you call it lack of management..." (Interview 6)
In the initial stages following the disaster many children were moved out of Bam and cared for elsewhere:
"Following the disaster in Bam, many children were moved out of the city to Mashad, Tehran, Kerman. Very quickly." (Interview 12)
The Family reunification Project could not be started immediately:
"They [separations] could have been avoided but they weren't, and it's partly because UNICEF didn't start family reunification as an immediate programme." (Interview 16)
Limiting Separations
No evidence was found of any system in place to limit children becoming separated from their families, before the disaster occurred.
Location of Separations
No specific locations of significant numbers of separations were identified.
Identification, Registration and Documentation
No clear method by which to identify separated and unaccompanied children was recalled, a variety of responses were given:
"...children were there, just standing on the rubble..." (Interview 6)
"Social workers from Behzisti are supposed to do that [identify unaccompanied children]..." (Interview 16)
Once the registration process was underway, details of separated and unaccompanied children were thoroughly recorded:
"At the time when we find children like this we immediately take their photo with their original clothing, and with any accessories they have with them such as combs or dummies." (Interview 17)
Files relating to unaccompanied children were kept, but the exact content of the folders could not be described:
"All the information relating to the child is documented in their folder; we [Behzisti Bam] have made a database of this information with the help of UNICEF. So we can now access information, like the whereabouts of these children with ease. " (Interview 17)
Tracing
A clear procedure for tracing families was not set out in the initial stages of managing the disaster, although later door to door inquiries were conducted:
"... in the emergency phase it's the hospitals, it's the community you always have to talk to, the old people in the community who are usually taking care of these things.." (Interview 16)
Reunification
Many reunifications were informal, however the official procedure was described by UNICEF:
"...there is a...set of forms, where it is called closure and reunification, if you find the child and family eligible for reunification this form is filled out and the child and family are taken to a committee called the child welfare committee... the committee consists of the social worker, the manager from Behzisti, one UNICEF staff, then you decide whether, the child can be reunified or not... everything has to be legalised according to the Iranian rules...the department of justice in Bam, has to sign everything and stamp..." (Interview 16)
Interim Care
There was definite confusion over interim care in the early stages of the management process. Initially children were taken out of Bam:
"... we took care of many children in Tehran...once the children's families were found, they were returned to their families, those whose families could not be found were taken to Kerman." (Interview 13)
Later, the aim was to first locate the unaccompanied children's extended family members, and then only when this was not an option, to place children in institutional care as close to their home town as possible.
"...previously they [unaccompanied children] were transferred to maintenance centres under the care of the welfare organisation, but this was changed to a better idea; searching for other another relative who can be a guardian for the child..." (Interview 23)
Durable Arrangements
Extended Family
Care within extended family was always the preferred option, and even more so in an extremely family orientated community such as Bam:
"...we formed a relationship with extended family members of unaccompanied children, and tried to help them look after orphaned children from their own family, helping them financially or with things like furniture, but if they still couldn't look after the child, we tried a different family member, only if there was no-one left, and as a last choice did we take these children to our [Behzisti's] own facilities..." (Interview 23)
Community Care
Community care does not exist in Iran, neither does foster care in the British form, due to religious and cultural reasons:
"...Because fostering with someone who is not related to you by blood, if the child is above six or seven, then the child would not be halal, if it's a boy to the mother and vice versa." (Interview 16)
Institutional Care
Only when extended family could not care for the unaccompanied child, even with support from other agencies, was institutional care chosen in the form of group homes:
"orphanages are no longer in use in Iran, we realised they had a negative impact. Now we have Children and Young Adult Houses, these houses have the aim of making the environment as similar to a family home as possible. Before 50 - 70 children would be housed in one place, and now the maximum number is 20." (Interview 15)
Adoption
No international adoption was reported following the earthquake, although national adoption did take place:
"...if the child does not have anyone upon agreement of the General Prosecutor [member of the Iranian judicial system] we allow other people to adopt these children..." (Interview 13)
Behzisti cannot allow children to be adopted without permission from the Iranian courts. This permission is given under specific conditions that include the following:
"...the family must not have any children of their own...have been married for five years and not have been able to get pregnant during this time, this must also be certified by a doctor, they must be the appropriate age for adoption...people who are wealthier and more educated are prioritised..." (Interview 13)
"...court states that one third of the new families legal possessions should be put in the child's name. Once the court has given permission, the child is still under the supervision of social workers in the their new family, until they have been with the family for a period of six months, at which point the court issues a letter allowing the child's new family to obtain a birth certificate for them." (Interview 17)
Non-Governmental Organisations in Bam
In general the role of local, national and some international NGOs in Bam was, and still is, to support unaccompanied children. In contrast to the findings in Part one, relating to Iran in general, it was not deemed suitable following the earthquake to delegate the responsibility of permanently caring for unaccompanied children to NGOs. However, the rest of their roles were similar to the roles of NGOs described in part one of this study:
"...we seek support from other NGOs... we allow them to work with us. Behzisti does not give children to NGOs, for example there is a NGO run play school for children, but these children only visit this NGO centre during the day, they do not stay the night as they go back to their families in the evening." (Interview 17)