Reforming child institutional care in the Post-Soviet bloc: The potential role of family-based empowerment strategies

Leyla Ismayilova, Fred Ssewamala and Aytakin Huseynli

Children and Youth Services Review, 2014, vol. 47, issue P2, 136-148

Abstract: In countries of the former Soviet Union (fSU), children in institutional care are one of the most vulnerable groups. Placing institutionalized children in a safe family environment could potentially improve children's psychosocial functioning and reduce risks of poor developmental outcomes. This paper provides a review of current deinstitutionalization efforts in the region, identifies potential challenges, describes the need for economic empowerment interventions and outlines directions for future research. In the fSU region, a significant number of children are placed in institutions because of poverty related issues. Family reunification is included among the key strategies for reforming the institutional care system in the region. However, financial support provided to low-income families within the deinstitutionalization programs is below the minimal costs of living. Few interventions aimed at deinstitutionalization have explicitly focused on addressing family poverty, one of the main reasons for institutionalization in the region. More research is warranted to examine the added benefits of integrating family-level economic empowerment strategies in deinstitutionalization efforts that could lift biological parents out of poverty, help them reunite with their children and reduce the risk of future institutionalization.

Keywords: Orphaned and vulnerable children; Deinstitutionalization; Orphanage; Family reunification; The former Soviet Union; Eastern Europe (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740914003314
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:47:y:2014:i:p2:p:136-148

DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2014.09.007

Access Statistics for this article

Children and Youth Services Review is currently edited by Duncan Lindsey

More articles in Children and Youth Services Review from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().