State Child Welfare Policy Guide: Part of the Policy Matters Series

6.4 Prohibition of congregate care for young children

A growing body of research provides strong evidence that young children should not be placed in congregate care settings unless they have serious medical needs that cannot be met in another setting.   Stringent, scientific evidence that institutional care diminishes the brain development of young children includes a longitudinal study of young children in Romanian orphanages and quality family foster care.   By age 4 1/2, children in foster care were scoring almost ten points higher on IQ tests than children who remained in orphanages.   Children who left the orphanages before age two saw an almost 15-point increase. [i]   Another study comparing the experiences of children in foster care and those in group homes shows that children in group home settings score lower on developmental and psychomotor assessments than those in foster homes. [ii]

Nevada legislation will go into effect in 2008 that prohibits placement of a child under age three in congregate care unless it avoids separating siblings or the child requires medical services that cannot be provided in another setting.  In 2009, the prohibitions and requirements will be extended to children under age six.  (Nev. Rev. Stats., 432B.3905) 

In Arizona, state agency policy prohibits placement of children under age two in congregate care settings, including emergency shelters, unless a specific procedure certifies that the placement is unavoidable.  Numerical goals for reducing the number of children by different age categories and lengths of stay were critical to holding the Department accountable for reducing reliance on shelter care. [iii]   In Denver County, Colorado, emergency shelters stopped accepting children under age 12 in 2003.[iv]  

Policy Options:  States can prohibit placement in congregate care (unless the child’s documented medical needs cannot be met in a less restrictive setting) for children in the following age categories (listed in increasing order of the number of children affected):

·         Under 3 years of age

·         Under 6 years of age

·         Under 12 years of age