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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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.

Experiences of sexual victimization by peers among adolescents in residential care settings

Shalhevet Attar-Schwartz, 01 Dec 2014

This study explores the prevalence and multilevel risk factors of 1,309 Israeli Arab and Jewish adolescents’ experiences of unwelcome sexual behaviors by peers in residential care settings (RCSs) for at-risk children.

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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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Deinstitutionalization of residential institutions of social protection in Serbia

Republic Institute for Social Protection, 01 Nov 2014

This report gives an overview of implemented activities in the process of deinstitutionalization, identifying the main obstacles, effects, and achieved results. The overall objective of the report is to achieve greater understanding of the progress and shortcomings of the process of deinstitutionalization and transformation of social protection in Serbia, and to analyze relevant policies that will provide input for the creation of new measures for further support of the reform process of social protection in Serbia.

Youth in Group Home Care: Youth Characteristics and Predictors of Later Functioning

Wai-Ying Chow, Jennifer E. Mettrick MHS, Sharon H. Stephan, Christina A. Von Waldner , 10 Oct 2014

This paper presents the findings of an exploratory research study of foster care youth residing in group homes in a mid-Atlantic state in the USA.

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ABC Head First - Orphanage Tourism

Keke Marc Robertson - ABC, 08 Sep 2014

This animated video, made for an Australian audience, illustrates the orphanage industry in Cambodia, particularly how Australian “voluntourists” unwittingly contribute to the exploitation and traumatization of children in orphanages.