UN meeting could spell the beginning of the end for Eastern European orphanages

A number of Eastern European countries which continue to warehouse babies in harmful orphanages are gathering for an historic meeting in an attempt to revolutionise their outdated childcare practices.

Government officials from across Central and Eastern Europe will meet in Prague on Tuesday for a critical UN workshop on developing childcare systems free of orphanages. The workshop - entitled ‘Forgotten Europeans – Forgotten Rights’ - follows Universal Children’s Day (held on Sunday November 20) and outlines the social and financial benefits of family-based care over institutional care.

An estimated 600,000 children under the age of three live in orphanages across Central and Eastern Europe. It’s actually inaccurate to call these buildings ‘orphanages’, because four out of five of their young inhabitants are not actually orphans. Nearly all have at least one living parent - unable to cope through poverty, conflict, disease and prejudice.

In the last 50 years studies have shown the devastating physical, psychological and social effects of orphanages. This has led to the UN declaring, “alternative care for young children, especially those under the age of three, should be provided in family-based settings.” Despite this, many Central and Eastern European governments are yet to embrace modern childcare alternatives, such as fostering and adoption, instead funding traditional orphanages - or children institutions, as they are more commonly known.

Dr Delia Pop, Director of Programmes at the UK-based NGO Hope and Homes for Children, is a key speaker at the Prague workshop. Hope and Homes for Children is a world leader in closing harmful children institutions and establishing modern family-based alternative care - a process known as deinstitutionalisation. Within its Eastern European country projects, it works with more children under the age of three than any other NGO.

Dr Pop said: “The Prague workshop is going to catalyse political will into action, by bringing together deinstitutionalisation experts, European Commission representatives and high level government representatives.

“For the first time, together in one room, we will discuss new funding opportunities and give clear examples of countries where deinstitutionalisation has been successfully rolled out.

“This is a landmark gathering which could change attitudes and hopefully entire childcare cultures.”

Since its inception in 1994, Hope and Homes for Children has closed 54 children institutions in seven countries by partnering with willing governments. This year alone it has helped broker a groundbreaking agreement in Romania to close all its remaining institutions by 2020 and in Bulgaria the Government is set to shut eight baby institutions following a successful pilot project - heralding the beginning of the end for the remaining 32 baby institutions in the country.

The Prague workshop will host government representatives from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey and Ukraine.

“They will review the situation of children under three in institutions and identify why the childcare systems in their regions fail those children,” said Dr Pop.
 
“We’ll help governments translate declarations of intention into real transformational change for children under the age of three.

“One day in an institution is a day too long.”

Children institutions have been proven to provide poor one-to-one care and a lack of stimulation. The physical, psychological and social consequences are devastating. Every 2.6 months spent in an institution before the age of three stunts a child’s growth by one month and significantly lowers their IQ levels - according to the Bucharest Early Intervention study.

Life chances are limited for children who leave institutions in early adulthood. Studies have shown that one in three children become homeless; one in five end up with a criminal record; and one in ten commit suicide.

The most sensitive and influential period for brain development is in the first three years of a child’s life. Research such as 2002’s ‘Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics’ demonstrated how institutionalised children could make a rapid recovery from their poor health and mental disorders, as well as and catch up on physical and cognitive development, provided they were placed in a family environment before the age of three-years-old.

As well as being much better for the child’s health, family-based care is a cheaper alternative for governments. In Bosnia, for example, Hope and Homes for Children spent 441,560 Euros last year on preventing children entering institutions. This saved the Bosnian Government 4,123,250 Euros in institutional placements. There was a return of 9.33 Euros for every Euro Hope and Homes for Children spent.