Millions of children across the world are living in institutions, separated from their families in the name of care and protection. They are growing up without the love and attention they need to thrive, which only a family can provide. 

Children have a right to family care, yet many continue to be placed in institutions across the globe; due to poverty, war, natural disaster, discrimination, gender inequality, disability, abuse and neglect, migration and social exclusion. A lack of services and support in the community often means parents are forced to place their child in an institution.

This report focuses on children in Latin America and the Caribbean, and the important factors affecting institutionalisation in the region. Child maltreatment and abuse are reportedly the main drivers of institutionalisation here, but there are many other factors and complex intersections. Poverty, lack of access to services and violence are driving families to search for residential settings, including so-called protection institutions and boarding schools, in the quest to access to basic rights, such as protection, food, shelter and education. 

Download the report to find out more about the drivers of institutionalisation in the LAC region.