Provides an overview of social service provision in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and provides information on ways to move resources away from institutional care, and into community-based social services. Contains specific examples from Latvia, Iceland, Sweden, Romania and other transitioning countries.

This paper defines concepts and highlights key topics around orphaned and vulnerable children. It stresses the importance of creating a child-friendly environment and utilizing a holistic approach to care, both which identify children as central participants in decision-making about care and placement.

This paper provides an overview of the largest longitudinal investigation of institutionalized children less than 2 years old ever conducted. The Bucharest Early Intervention Project is an ongoing randomized controlled trial of foster placement as an alternative to institutionalization in abandoned infants and toddlers being conducted in Bucharest, Romania.

This paper outlines the International Save the Children Alliance’s position on residential care. It addresses the proliferation of residential care, its negative impact on children and the need for international attention. The paper presents the work of Save the Children and other agencies in order to highlight relevent issues and to provide a guide for those working with separated children.

This research study provides statistical information on institutional care of children under the age of 12 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Interviews with institutions and children are conducted, and reasons for separation from family, length of time in care, status of family relationship, religious orientation and financial support of the institutions are highlighted.

A paper discussing the shortcomings of systems in which separated children are placed into residential/ institutional forms of care. It also considers community-based and some other forms of care as alternative approaches to preventing unnecessary separation of children from their families.

This paper examines the negative impact of institutional care in central eastern Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Baltics region. It promotes community-based care alternatives and provides statistics. It also includes a list of useful resources addressing orphaned and vulnerable children.

A review of institutional care and family-centered care with a discussion of both positive and negative aspects of group care. This review paper is primarily focused on showing the inefficacy of group care and recommending other forms of care such as kinship care and even foster care as options that are more cost effective and better for children’s development.

This paper provides a guideline for the implementation of reunification and reintegration programs for agencies providing institutional care for orphans. It outlines the different strategies and activities an organization in Ethiopia used to transition from institutional care to community-based childcare projects.

This study, conducted by the Children and Family Research Center at the University of Illinois, examines the prevalence, nature, and circumstances of child maltreatment in out-of-home care, with a focus on identifying cases that occurred prior to