Children Deprived of Parental Care

Children around the world are often raised outside of a home environment and without the care of either biological or adopted parents. Without a parent as a natural advocate and protector, these children are particularly vulnerable.

Every child who is temporarily or permanently deprived of his or her family environment is entitled to special protection and assistance provided by the state. Children may be placed in institutions such as orphanages, group homes, foster family homes, relative placements, hospitals or other institutions charged with their care.  Through these alternative care settings, the government must ensure to the maximum extent possible the survival and development of the child.

Ironically, these placements are often harmful to children. Many children face grossly substandard and over-crowded facilities, inadequate and at times inhumane care, physical and sexual abuse, cruel and degrading treatment, and life-threatening deprivation. Even in some institutions that are clean and provide adequate food, staff neglect children; babies are left to lie alone in cribs or small beds with no stimulation, play, or adult attention; adolescents are not provided the guidance and care needed to prepare for adulthood. Children and youth are often denied contact with extended family members and communities. Educational opportunities are frequently lacking and medical care abysmal. Denied the help and care of a natural family, many of these children and youth are further disadvantaged by systems that perpetuate abuse and neglect.

Human Rights Watch investigates the situation of children deprived of their family environment and seeks to make significant changes in the way children deprived of parental care are treated throughout the world.

Related Reports:
"Life Doesn't Wait"
Romania’s Failure to Protect and Support Children and Youth Living with HIV
August 2006

Positively Abandoned: Stigma and Discrimination Against HIV-Positive Mothers and Their Children in Russia
July 2005

In the Shadow of Death: HIV/AIDS and Children's Rights in Kenya
June 2001

Abandoned to the State: Cruelty and Neglect in Russian Orphanages
December 1998

Death by Default: A Policy of Fatal Neglect in China's Orphanages
1996

Romania's Orphans: A Legacy of Repression
1990