This position paper outlines the position of Disability Rights International, European Network on Independent Living, Validity Foundation, and TASH on residential care and the right of all children to live and grow up in a family. "Throughout the world, children with disabilities are separated from families due to stigma, discrimination, and economic marginalization," says the statement. "Children with disabilities are more at risk of being placed in institutions than other children, and they are often left out of deinstitutionalization and community programs. Without community-based supports to help families keep their children with disabilities, children in many countries are increasingly placed in a new generation of smaller institutions being created to replace orphanages – often with international funds. These may be called 'residential' programs, family-like residences, or group homes, but they leave children without the opportunity to grow up with the love and permanent bonds they can only form in a family."
