Adult Grandmaster's Palace Plenary Session 1
Nov 02, 2017 09:45 AM - 10:15 AM(UTC)
20171102T0945 20171102T1015 UTC International overview of the relationship between Institutional Care, Fostering and Adoption

Background: Young children continue to be frequently placed in institutional care throughout the world. This occurs despite wide recognition that institutional care is associated with harm and negative consequences for children’s development (Browne, 2009). According to UN ‘Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children’(Report of the Human Rights Council 11th Session, October 2009), all 193 Member States should adopt a “deinstitutionalization objective and strategy” particularly for children under the age of three years who were at risk of harm. The Guidelines state that alternative care for young children should be only provided in family settings (UNICEF, 2010). It is questionable whether this has produced any measurable changes in the number of young children living in in residential care institutions (RCIs) of 11 or more children without a parent for more than 3 months.

Methods: To establish the number and characteristics of young children in RCIs and Foster care (less than 3 years), a Survey of Government Offcial Statistics was carried for 54 Countries across Europe and Central Asia. Data from 2013/14 were compared to findings related to young children in RCIs from a previous survey in 2002/2003 of the same countries (Browne et al, 2006).

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Background: Young children continue to be frequently placed in institutional care throughout the world. This occurs despite wide recognition that institutional care is associated with harm and negative consequences for children’s development (Browne, 2009). According to UN ‘Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children’(Report of the Human Rights Council 11th Session, October 2009), all 193 Member States should adopt a “deinstitutionalization objective and strategy” particularly for children under the age of three years who were at risk of harm. The Guidelines state that alternative care for young children should be only provided in family settings (UNICEF, 2010). It is questionable whether this has produced any measurable changes in the number of young children living in in residential care institutions (RCIs) of 11 or more children without a parent for more than 3 months.

Methods: To establish the number and characteristics of young children in RCIs and Foster care (less than 3 years), a Survey of Government Offcial Statistics was carried for 54 Countries across Europe and Central Asia. Data from 2013/14 were compared to findings related to young children in RCIs from a previous survey in 2002/2003 of the same countries (Browne et al, 2006).

Results:Data from 51 countries showed there were 32,627,008 children in the population less than 3 years with 31,520 of these children living in RCIs without a parent (9.7 per 10,000). The number had decreased by 28% for the region in the past ten years. However, when the decrease in live births is taken into account, the figures are less impressive. The proportion of young children in institutions for 2013/14 was 9.7 per 10,000 and for 2002/03 it was 14.4 per 10,000. Thus, the decrease of 4.7 per 10,000 shows there has been a slow decline over the past ten years of approximately 0.5/10,000 per year. Data from 44 countries in 2013 showed there were 66,354 children under 3 years in foster care but the provision varied widely from country to country. Six countries used foster/kinship care exclusively for young children (UK, Norway, Iceland, Slovenia, Cyprus & Ireland). Ten other countries had increased the proportion of young children in foster care since 2003. As international adoption has decreased over the past decade in Europe, domestic adoption has increased helping to reduce the number of young non-disabled children in RCIs.

Conclusion: A third of countries in the region have more than 1 per 1000 young children less than 3 years living in RCIs. Discrimination against single mothers, ethnic background and child disabilities, together with poor education and family planning, unwanted pregnancies, poverty, international adoption and economic migration were all cited as causal risk factors (Browne, 2012; Chou and Browne, 2008; 2016). Surprisingly, there were no significant associations between the number of foster families and the number of children under three in institutions (N= 28) or under eighteen in institutions (N=29). It has been observed that the increase in foster care provision over the past ten years appears to have absorbed the increase in the numbers of children being placed into ‘out of home’ care, partly due to greater recognition of child abuse and neglect and a proliferation of child protection services. Consequently, the number of children in institutions has reduced slowly. Children from ethnic minorities and/or with disabilities appear to be discriminated against for foster care and remain in institutional care for long periods of time. More Government resources should be placed into Community Services to prevent new intake into RCIs at the same time as de-institutionalising children and transform services (Hamilton-Giachritsis and Browne, 2012).

BSc., MSc., PhD., M.Ed., C.Psychol., F.I.Biol.
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University of Nottingham
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