Regional Initiative to eradicate the internment of children aged under 3 years in protection institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean

Over 240,000 children live in institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean. Among them, the youngest are the most vulnerable to the harms of institutionalisation. It is estimated that a child aged under 3 years loses 4 months of development per year lived in an institution. In addition to this, violence in institutional settings is 6 times greater than in family-based alternative care, and sexual violence is 4 times greater.

Since 2012, RELAF and UNICEF have been developing the Regional Initiative to eradicate the internment of children aged under 3 years in protection institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Initiative’s goal is to put the issue of these children in the public agendas of the LAC governments, in order to replace institutional care, which is usually the first option, with family-based care, and to prevent the separation of children from their families.

Many progresses have been achieved in all these years.  In this section, you can find all the actions carried out up until now.

For more information and to join the campaing, please visit www.hablapormi.org