In this UNICEF blog post, the author, Benjamin Perks, describes the many detrimental effects of institutionalization on young children and infants. He then asks readers to imagine how this situation might be different. What if nurses were trained to identify mothers at risk of abandonment and to intervene during prenatal visits, connecting expectant mothers to counseling and supports? What if this was reinforced by doctors and medical staff in the maternity ward? And what if appropriate and well-trained foster carers were available in the case that abandonment could not be prevented so that infants did not have to suffer in institutions without one-on-one continuous contact with a caregiver? The author highlights the 2012 Call to Action to eradicate placement of children under 3 in large scale institutions in Central Asia and Central and Eastern Europe and the advances made since then in reducing the numbers of children in institutions in the region.
