Decades of war, drought, destruction, displacement, and poverty have eroded the traditional family-based safety nets that provide for children when birth families are unable to offer adequate care. There is palpable and growing evidence in Afghanistan that institutional care of children is now the only solution used in situations where families are unable, or unwilling, to care for their children. Care of children in institutions is being used as a response to poverty, unemployment, homelessness, and repatriation.
One of the most serious challenges facing Afghanistan is the need to formulate realistic, effective and sustainable family support and child protection mechanisms and measures. The study documented in this report takes crucial steps towards addressing this need. Relying on data from over 2000 questionnaires and a series of focus group discussions, this document presents the situation of children living in institutional care in Afghanistan. Detailed data suggest that both state and private institutions are not protecting Afghanistan’s most vulnerable children. Although services such as education are provided to nearly all children living in institutional care, the common inability to attend to basic needs such as the children’s health, nutrition, sanitation, and psychosocial well-being. As in many institutional settings, both state and private institutions report being understaffed, with exceptional shortages noted for both caregivers and social workers. No national standards for admission to orphanages currently exist. The vast majority of children admitted have surviving mothers; the death of a child’s father was the most common reason for placement in institutional care (71% of boys, 82% of girls). Social and cultural factors mean that single mothers often have no means to provide for their children after their father’s death, and poverty is a significant factor driving institutionalization.
Support to prevent family separation and promote alternatives to institutional care is lacking across Afghanistan. Little or no emphasis is placed on reintegration and reunification efforts. In some cases, children have resided in an institution for more than 8 years. In a number of institutions, contact with the outside community is discouraged or forbidden. Vocational training was offered to less than 25% of the children who responded to the questionnaire. Relevant social policy frameworks must be developed and strengthened in order to promote family-based care. This document concludes with detailed recommendations for supporting policy, systems, services, and structures geared to reforming the provision of care in Afghanistan.
©Afghanistan Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and UNICEF Afghanistan
