This report presents the survey Kevin Browne and colleagues conducted in 33 European countries to identify the number and characteristics of children less than three placed in residential care without their parents for more than three months during the year ending December 31, 2003. The purpose was to assess the rate and cost of residential care as a response to children in adversity. The provision of services to prevent child abuse, neglect, and abandonment was also assessed.
Ministries of Health in Europe were asked for official data, and of the 31 countries that responded it was estimated that 23,099 children (11.2 per 10,000) aged less than three years were living in institutions. There was great variation between countries for the proportion of young children in institutions and family foster care. Although residential care was shown to cost on average three times as much as foster care, 33 percent of countries had more young children in institutions than fostered. Those countries had lower GDPs and health expenditures as well as larger proportions of young children in institutions, associated mainly with abandonment, disability, and medical problems. Only four percent of children were “orphans” with deceased parents. In conclusion, the report recommends that children under three years not be placed in residential care without a parent or guardian.
©Adoption and Fostering