Number of children in residential care in Europe nearly three times the global average

GENEVA, 18 September 2024 – Despite the well-known and devastating impact of family separation and child institutionalization, an estimated 277 children for every 100,000 children live in residential care across Europe – almost three times the global average of 102 per 100,000 according to a new policy brief published today by UNICEF.

Keeping families together in Europe finds that there are currently at least 337,287 children are in residential care across Europe, including European Union and accession countries. While facilities in this region tend to be small and integrated into communities, there remains an over-reliance on residential care instead of family-based care for too many children across the whole region

“Children in institutions are deprived of the social, emotional and intellectual stimulation that is critical for the healthy development of their brains. Shut away from mainstream society, children in institutions are vulnerable to violence, neglect and abuse,” said Aaron Greenberg, UNICEF Europe and Central Asia Child Protection Advisor.

“It has been encouraging to see improvements in care systems across Europe, but we must continue to build comprehensive national systems of social services for children that are preventative, responsive, and non-institutional in nature.”    

The brief details that among countries in Eastern Europe with available data, Belarus and Ukraine have the highest rates of children in residential care facilities, ranging from 573 to 694 per 100,000 children.

In four out of 19 European countries for which data is available, children with disabilities make up the majority of children in residential care, accounting for 78 per cent of children in residential care in Ukraine, 66 per cent in Serbia and 53 per cent in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The rate of children in institutional care can reflect the strength of a country’s child protection system, with a higher rate signalling a system that is failing to address the needs of children and their caregivers and keep families together.

UNICEF proposes the following policy recommendations to facilitate the closure of large-scale institutions by 2030 and transition to family-based alternatives to institutional care in Europe:

1. Investment in a range of child and family support services across all child focused sectors, including statutory family support services, and a strong social service workforce, for the early identification of, and intervention in, situations when children are at risk of separation.
2. Securing alternative care that is family based including stronger support for extended family members who care for children and strategies to keep siblings together where possible.
3. Implementation of effective childcare reforms to keep children with their families where possible, including children living with disabilities through planning for the closure of large-scale institutions and developing a comprehensive continuum of child and family support and protection services.
4. Protecting children who are already in alternative care against violence, neglect and abuse through robust safeguarding policies and practices.
5. Investing in more and better data on children who are at risk of family separation, in alternative care or who have left care.
6. Raising public awareness of the benefits of keeping families together and the urgent need to prioritize family-based care.
7. Ensuring that children have a voice in the decisions that affect them and are consulted when new policies and practices are developed to meet their needs and rights.

UNICEF works with governments and partners across Europe to help keep families together and support family- and community-based care. This includes developing and implementing deinstitutionalisation policies and programmes, scaling up protection and family support services to prevent children being separated from their families, promoting family- and community-based care and family reunification and reintegration and safe transition to independent life.

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Notes to editors

Alternative care data for Europe (including the unweighted estimated average for Europe) was analyzed from:

• TransMonEE: https://www.transmonee.org
• Using the data in Table 1 (pp. 18-20) of the: First version of the joint monitoring framework for the European Child Guarantee, prepared by the Social Protection Committee’s Indicators’ Sub-Group and the European Commission, see: the Monitoring and benchmarking frameworks- Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion- European Commission
• From the country overviews published as part of the joint UNICEF/Eurochild DataCare initiative: https://www.unicef.org/eca/reports/children-alternative-care