Evaluation of NGO's refugee child protection implementations

This research aims to evaluate the refugee child protection implementations of non-governmental organizations carrying out rights-based practices and to reveal the problems faced by social workers during the implementations. The research methodology is phenomenological qualitative research. The purposive sampling technique of qualitative research was used to determine the subjects of the study. Interviews were conducted with twenty social workers, who have been working in the Istanbul and Ankara fields for at least one year, of ten different national non-governmental organizations that carry out refugee child protection implementations in Turkey. The data obtained as a result of the interviews were analyzed by thematic analysis method using Atlas.ti 8.4.24.0 software. As a result of the analysis, it was concluded that non-governmental organizations had insufficient human resources and budgets in refugee child protection implementations and that the workload of NGOs was high. It has been determined that standardization cannot be achieved in refugee child protection activities of NGOs and there is a need for structuring and supervision at this point. At the same time, it has been determined that the initiative of the employees of public institutions is decisive in the child's access to the right to protection. In addition, it has been concluded that the relations of NGOs with public institutions can be shaped according to the personal relations of the employees. Another finding obtained as a result of data analysis is that public institutions, which are the main actors of the child protection system, have a high workload and cannot carry out refugee child protection activities in a coordinated manner. It has been concluded that NGOs may experience problems in accessing children in refugee child protection practices due to the pandemic process and the socio-cultural characteristics of refugees. These problems faced by social workers in refugee child protection practices might cause violations of rights in refugee children's access to their right to protection and in the implementation of the basic principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Keywords: Refugee Child Protection, Non-Governmental Organization, Child Protection System, Right Based Social Work