At home or in a home? Formal care and adoption of children in Eastern Europe and Central Asia

The report, “At Home or In a Home?” makes the case that little has changed in child care reform in the past twenty years and it is time to bring an end to the practice of placing children in state run orphanages. The report reveals that across Europe and Central Asia, including inside the European Union, more than a million children and adults are living in long-term residential care and hundreds of thousands of children with disabilities are routinely placed in state-run homes, severely hampering their development. Placement in institutional care of children below three years of age must be restricted to a short-term emergency measure or a planned stay not exceeding six months, and only as a last resort, when it is absolutely necessary and in the best interest of the child.