In Guatemala 75% of parents with children in institutions surveyed said that with a little support, they would be able to take care of their own children. These are the things we need to look for. In order to know how to get children out of institutions, it is helpful to find out how they got there. This will give a starting point to finding out what needs to be done to prevent the children from ending up in institutions.
As I am working on putting together the report that is to give an overview of the alternative care situation around the world, patterns become very obvious. This is useful. In this blog I will give a brief overview of some of these patterns, and in the coming blogs I will take each of the main reasons and dedicate a blog to understanding it better.
One of the patterns that jumped out at me early on, was that in countries that are classified as ‘high-income’ by the World Bank, generally speaking the reasons for ending up in care (whether institutional or family-based) are mainly to do with protecting the child. The main reasons found for children ending up in care in this group of countries are abuse, neglect, domestic violence or imprisonment or mental health issues of the parents. To a certain extend more could possibly be done to prevent these kinds of situations getting out of hand, by providing parents with guidance and support, allowing the children to stay with their parents without being at serious risk. However, to a certain extend there will always be come children who will need to be taken away from their parents for their own protection and well-being.
The reasons for children ending up in care in countries classified as ‘low-income’ or ‘lower-middle income’ are very different. Here, almost always, the main reasons are poverty, disability and lack of access to education. It is particularly noticeable that despite all the claims of running ‘orphanages’, losing both parents is NOT one of the main reasons for ending up in care, the vast majority of children who are truly orphaned are taken in by family members.
None of the main reasons for ending up in care in low-income countries should be reasons for a child not to grow up with her parents. They are all issues that can be dealt with, relatively easily, allowing far more children to continue living with their family.
In the coming four blogs I will discuss poverty, education, disability and parental incapacity in more detail. I hope you will follow along on the journey.
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