Scaling down. Reducing, reshaping and improving residential care around the world. Positive care choices:Working paper No. 1

This working paper summarizes the evidence base on residential care to promote better decision making among policy makers and child welfare practitioners, with priority given to ending residential care for children under three, and care in large scale facilities. The paper calls for the need for improvements in the management of the use of residential care and argues that these facilities should be limited to children for whom family-based care is not appropriate or available. It also outlines strategies for reducing reliance on residential care while promoting alternatives, such as foster care. The paper uses the Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children, formally welcomed by the UN in November 2009, as its starting point.