Supporting families
UNICEF is supporting every child to live in a safe and caring family/family-like environment
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Every child has the right to live in a family environment and large residential institutions cannot adequately support a child’s development.
Although the proportion of children placed in institutions is decreasing in comparison to family-based care, the total number of children under state protection has not been decreasing.
Over two-thirds of the children in institutions are children with disabilities.
UNICEF is investing efforts to develop prevention services for families living in multiple deprivations whose children are at risk of being separated from their parents and placed into care.
We are providing professional, evidence-based advice, building the capacity of social workers and other practitioners and model innovative services to support those most excluded from society.
In 2017, the country achieved its target of completely eliminating the placement of children under three years of age in large-scale institutions, and significantly reduced the overall number of children in residential care.
UNICEF is working with its partners to support the development of a range of services for families at risk of separation, such as – family outreach, and alternative family and community-based services: kinship, foster care, etc. for children temporarily separated from their families.