The problem

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For many children around the world, when they are made vulnerable, they are placed into an institution. This can happen due to poverty, family separation, a lack of accessible services for children with disabilities, and more. It’s a global issue, impacting an estimated 5.4 million children worldwide.

Growing up in institutional care violates a child’s rights. Over 80 years of international research has shown it can severely harm children’s physical and cognitive development. It also exposes them to a higher risk of abuse and neglect.

Many orphanages around the world are run for profit rather than for children’s wellbeing. Abuse and violence against children is often present in institutions. But even when run with the best efforts and intentions, institutional systems and settings struggle to provide what children really need – consistent love, responsive caregiving and protection. Institutionalisation also denies children their right to live with their families – a right enshrined in treaties including the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).

We’ve helped prove that institutions are not only harmful but also costly to maintain. The resources pumped into them could be better invested in services that strengthen and support families, and tackle the causes of separation.

It is a global issue

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On average 80% of children in orphanages have a living parent.

Updates on our work

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An estimated 5.4 million children are living in institutions worldwide.

Our global reach

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Hundreds of research studies from across the globe show the long-term harm of institutionalisation to children.

Our research

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The problem in under 3 minutes

In this short video, see why orphanages should never be an answer for the care of a child.

Watch full video

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The problem in under 3 minutes

In this short video, see why orphanages should never be an answer for the care of a child.

Watch full video

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Defining an institution

There are numerous definitions of what the term ‘institution’ means when referring to children. And a clear distinction is needed between an institution and high-quality residential care. However, an institution would include at least one (often more) of the following key factors that research evidence shows result in harm to children, including:

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Children are arbitrarily separated from their parents (and often their siblings) and raised by personnel who are paid to care for them, and who usually work shifts
Large numbers of unrelated children live together in the same building or compound
The child does not have the opportunity to form a healthy emotional attachment to one or two primary caregivers
Children are isolated and segregated from community life and services, for example by the use of high walls or fences, guards on the gate, the institutional building being situated outside a town or in remote locations, or the provision of school on site.

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Contact with the birth and extended family is not actively encouraged or supported, and is at times discouraged
Care is generally impersonal and the needs of the organisation come before the individual needs of the child
Children are at risk from structural neglect, which can include: insufficient material resources, inconsistent caregiving due to shift patterns, poor staff:child ratios, insufficient and inadequate caregiver-child interactions, and the use of restrictive or dangerous measures to control children’s behaviour (such as severe physical punishment, tying up children or the use of psychotropic drugs).

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Institutions for children include, but are not restricted to:

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