Save the Children has released a policy brief outlining its position on the institutional care of children. In the brief, Save the Children states “Save the Children believes that children are best cared for in either their own families or in a family-based setting in their own communities and that placing children in a child care institution, especially under the age of three, is hazardous to their health and development.” According to Save the Children, institutional care of children is often harmful to the physical, social, and intellectual development of children (especially those under the age of three) and the mere presence of a child care institution can encourage child abandonment and divert much needed resources away from more positive care options.
Therefore, in this policy brief, Save the Children urges States to adopt the Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children, with special priority placed on ensuring the appropriate care of children under the age of three. Save the Children calls on governments, NGOs, and donors to divert resources away from the support of institutional care of children and direct resources toward supporting family care.
The policy brief outlines the reasons that children may be placed in institutions, including poverty and separation, access to education, discrimination, a lack of support for alternative family-based care, the “business” of institutions, and public support for institutions. The brief continues to describe the ways in which child care institutions are harmful or inappropriate, citing the right of children to a family life, the fact that many children have living parents and have been placed in institutions only because their families do not have adequate support to care for their children, inadequate standards of care within institutions, and the high cost of institutions compared with alternative options. Save the Children, therefore, calls for increased support for communities, action by governments, deinstitutionalization and reform of the child care system, and placing children at the center of decision-making.
