Towards Alternative Child Care Services in Armenia: Costing Residential Care

This recent study by UNICEF in Armenia costed different types of residential care and community based services in order to forecast the financial implication of the Government of Armenia’s reform policies which emphasize deinstitutionalization and transition to community based forms of care. The study shows that the reallocation of children into family care does not necessarily lead to the creation of an additional burden on the state budget. On the contrary, depending on the policy chosen, the savings can be quite tangible, even if the reform costs include the provision of jobs to excessive staff of the discharged residential institutions and additional social support and care services for children released from residential institutions and their families.