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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Moving to My New Home: A Book for Children to Explain What will Happen During the Time the Institution is Closing

Lumos, 2015

The aim of this book is to explain to children what to expect during the time the institution in which they reside is closing.

Aging Out of Care in Ethiopia: Challenges and Implications Facing Orphans and Vulnerable Youth

Julia M. Pryce, Sarah Lyn Jones, Anne Wildman, Anita Thomas, Kristen Okrzesik, and Katherine Kaufka-Walts - Emerging Adulthood, 2015

This interpretive study examines the experiences of 54 Ethiopian emerging adults who had aged out of institutional care facilities. Findings are derived from interviews and focus groups in which questions and activities focused on the challenges faced by participants and the supports they relied on throughout the transition process.

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International Collaboration for Inclusion: Lessons from international experience in responding to the urgent human rights needs of children with disabilities in Ukraine’s orphanage system

Disability Rights International and Your Dimension, 31 Dec 2014

This report documents Ukraine’s Soviet-era system of orphanages and other institutions for children with disabilities. The report details the violence, exploitation, and other human rights violations that are frequently committed against these children. It also shows how families who wish to keep their children with disabilities at home are often forced to institutionalize them as a result of lack of support.

Workshop Report: Training Workshops on Mental Health Interventions for Better Care and Management of Institutionalized Children and Young Adults

Udayan Care , 19 Dec 2014

The report from the two-day Training Workshops on “Mental Health and Interventions for Better Care and Management of Institutionalized Children and Young Adults” is now available.

Twinning in the Best Interests of Children: Promoting Family Life, Not Orphanages

Catholic Relief Services, 16 Dec 2014

This document, published by Catholic Relief Services, urges members of the Catholic faith community to consider the best interests of the child when partnering, or “twinning” with parishes in Haiti and undertaking charitable activities.

International Volunteering in Residential Care Centres: An Overview

Anna McKeon , 11 Dec 2014

Anna McKeon, consultant for the Better Volunteering Better Care initiative, presented at a launch event of a new report on orphanage volunteering from Next Generation Nepal.

Treated Worse than Animals: Abuses against Women and Girls with Psychosocial or Intellectual Disabilities in Institutions in India

Human Rights Watch , 03 Dec 2014

This report documents the involuntary admission and arbitrary detention of women and girls with mental health disabilities in mental hospitals and residential care institutions across India.

Better Volunteering Better Care Excutive Summary

20 Nov 2014

This Excutive Summary is developed by the Better Volunteering Better Care

Behind the Walls

Lumos, 11 Nov 2014

The video discusses the institutionalization of eight million children in Central and Eastern Europe following the fall of the Berlin Wall, and underscores that many of the children these orphanages have families.

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From Orphanhood to Trafficked: In Conversation with Kate van Doore

Interview by Patricia Fronek - Podsocs , 05 Nov 2014

This podcast is a presentation given by Kate Van Doore at the Interdisciplinary Conference on Human Trafficking held on October 9-11 2014 at the University of Nebraska.

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