Nearly 60,000 children in Central Asia are growing up in residential care

GENEVA, 15 August 2024 – Nearly 60,000 children aged 0-17 years across five countries in Central Asia live in residential care, according to a new policy brief published today by UNICEF.

Despite the well-known and devastating impact of family separation and child institutionalization there are an estimated 203 children for every 100,000 children, on average, live in residential care across Central Asia, almost double the global average of 105 per 100,000.

The policy brief outlines that except for Kazakhstan, the share of children with disabilities in residential care increased between 2015 and 2021, demonstrating deep-rooted social norms and limited community-based services for children with disabilities.

“The rate of children in residential care can reflect the strength of a country’s child protection system, with a higher rate signalling a system that is failing to keep families together,” said Regina De Dominicis UNICEF Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia.

“We know that the impact of institutionalization on children is severe and can last a lifetime so urge greater investments in family support services. No child should ever be placed in alternative care because of poverty, disability or challenging behaviour, or because their family lacks access to services they need to care for their own child at home.”

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.

UNICEF proposes seven policy recommendations to facilitate the closure of large-scale institutions and transition to family-based alternatives to institutional care:

1. Implementation of effective childcare reforms to keep children with their families where possible, including planning for the closure of large-scale institutions and developing a comprehensive continuum of child and family support and protection services.
2. Investment in a range of child and family support services, 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.
3. 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
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 Central Asia 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.