Fairstart Foundation supports foster parents of 65,000 children
Eurochild member from Denmark receives the APA Award for Humanitarian Work and releases a new report on the effects of climate change, urbanisation and migration on children's mental health.
The foundation's 6-month online courses educated 750 partner staff in 36 countries, who trained the foster parents of 65,000 children. The programmes were adapted to different languages as well as local strengths and challenges. The foundation received the APA Award for International Humanitarian Work for Underserved Populations in 2020 and 2023.
"Our mission is to support local professionals and care systems with evidence-based programs, to ensure the rights of children in care. We connect organisations via our Eurochild membership, the European Federation of Psychologist Associations, the American Psychologist Association Division 52 International, NGOs advising the United Nations, and the Ibero-American Attachment network." sais Niels Peter Rygaard, CEO of research and program design at Fairstart.
The Report on mental health
Fairstart Foundations recently published a new report titled "Climate Change, Migration, Urbanization, and the Mental Health of Children at Risk in the European Union". This report attempts to understand how the mental health of many European families and children is affected by massive migration and urbanisation; a relocation caused by industrialisation and overpopulation, amplified by the long-term effects of climate change.
Psychologists face a growing mental health challenge, calling for innovative large-scale interventions. World population growth and industrialisation are causing climate change, forcing families to migrate into rapidly expanding cities, and suffer in refugee camps. European in-country migration from rural villages adds to urban growth. This rapid shift in adaptation between uprooted families and their new environments tends to increase the risk of family system disorganisation, poor child attachment, and child abandonment.
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