Effects of Institutional Care

Institutionalising children has been shown to cause a wide range of problems for their development, well-being and longer-term outcomes. Institutional care does not adequately provide the level of positive individual attention from consistent caregivers which is essential for the successful emotional, physical, mental, and social development of children. This is profoundly relevant for children under 3 years of age for whom institutional care has been shown to be especially damaging.

Common issues for children in institutional care are a significantly increased risk of sexual and physical abuse, a lack of stimulation, and harsh discipline. Children in institutions are less likely to attend school, and are frequently isolated from their traditional communities. Long periods in an institution make it harder for a child to assimilate back into a family and community, and deny them access to the life-long attachments and community support systems that family relationships and communities can provide. For funders and implementing bodies, care in the community is a significantly more effective and sustainable use of resources since it avoids the high maintenance costs of institutions, and prevents many of the problems posed by institutional care.

It is widely accepted that institutions should be used as a last resort only. Countries which have traditionally relied on institutional care are now transforming their institutions into small family style group homes and actively pursuing preferences for community-based care options based around small family style units. This policy shift is urgently required in HIV/AIDS affected countries which are taking a backward step in resorting to the use of institutions to care for children orphaned or affected by the disease.

The body of literature contained in this section provides in-depth explanations of the damaging effects of institutionalisation on children and provides recommendations for alterative community care options.

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No Child Should Grow Up Like This: Identifying long term outcomes of Forgotten Australians, Child Migrants and Stolen Generations

Hazel Blunden, Elizabeth Fernandez, Jung-Sook Lee, Szilvia Kovacs - UNSW Australia, 01 Dec 2016

This report documents the life experiences of care leavers in Australia.

Epidemiological patterns and correlates of mental disorders among orphans and vulnerable children under institutional care

Victoria N. Mutiso, Christine W. Musyimi, Albert Tele, David M. Ndetei - Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 03 Nov 2016

The objective of the study was to estimate the prevalence, comorbidity and socio-demographic correlates of common mental disorders among orphan and vulnerable children (OVCs) in residential care.

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Experiences of Young Indian Girls Transiting out of Residential Care Homes

Satarupa Dutta - Asian Social Work and Policy Review, 02 Nov 2016

This study captures the lived experiences of twenty-four young Indian girls who have left care in the past four years. It addresses their journey of moving out of care at two levels — their preparation to leave care and their present experience.

Orphanage Entrepreneurs: The Trafficking of Haiti's Invisible Children

Georgette Mulheir and Mara Cavanagh - Lumos, 01 Nov 2016

According to this report from Lumos, of the estimated 32,000 children who live in orphanages in Haiti, only 20 are percent orphans.

Entrepreneurs d’orphelinat : La traite des enfants invisibles d’Haïti

Georgette Mulheir avec Mara Cavanagh, 01 Nov 2016

On estime que 32 000 enfants vivent dans des orphelinats en Haïti.

UAFA: Deinstitutionalization

UAFA, 31 Oct 2016

In this video from United Aid for Azerbaijan, several experts and public officials discuss the importance of deinstitutionalization.

Process of Deinstitutionalization of Children at Risk in Bulgaria

Venelin Terziev, Ekaterina Arabska - Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 27 Oct 2016

The current study makes analyses of the national strategy for deinstitutionalization of children and concludes on important recommendations concerning national policy development.

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Restoring and Empowering Traumatized Girls in a Philippines-Based Independent Living Program: An Exploratory Study

Laura A. Voith, Joan Marie Blakey - Journal of Child & Adolescent Trauma, 27 Oct 2016

Employing focus groups and participant-observation, this exploratory study examined areas of personal development, knowledge, and skills of young women who were formally in residential care in the Philippines to determine success factors for young women with traumatic histories.

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Residential Child and Youth Care in a Developing World: Global Perspectives

Tuhinul Islam Leon Fulcher (Editors), The CYC-Net Press, 01 Oct 2016

Edited by Tuhinul Islam and Leon Fulcher, Residential Child and Youth Care in a Developing World: Global Perspectives is the first volume of a series of four, bringing together contributions from local practitioners, educators and researchers across all regions on their countries' residential child and youth care traditions, policies and practices, as well as knowledge about children's needs, rights and personal upbringing there.

The development of children placed into different types of Russian families following an institutional intervention

McCall, Robert B.; Muhamedrahimov, Rifkat J.; Groark, Christina J.; Palmov, Oleg I.; Nikiforova, Natalia V.; Salaway, Jennifer L.; Julian, Megan M., 01 Oct 2016

This study examined whether interventions in Russian Baby Homes promoting warm, sensitive, and responsive caregiver-child interactions and relationships would be associated with advantages in those children’s behavior years after they transitioned to family care.

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