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TopChildren In Institutional Care In Latvia
Institutional care in Latvia is one of the common ways of caring for children who, for various reasons, are not able to live with their families. Although the number of children in institutions is decreasing every year, there are still too many children living there. For example, in 2004 there were 3,396 (0—17-year-old) children in institutional care (Klāsons et al., 2008), but in 2016, there were 1,225 children in institutional care (Bērni Latvijā [Children in Latvia], 2017).
On December 4, 2013, the Guidelines for the Development of Social Services for 2014-2020 were approved by the Cabinet of Ministers Decree No.589. One of the main directions of the guidelines was deinstitutionalisation. This concept refers to the process of developing community-based services, with family-like and child-friendly environments, including preventive measures to prevent the need for institutional care. The process of deinstitutionalisation has started in Latvia, but it will take some time to change the existing institutional care system. Legally, institutional care (in Latvia - social care institutions) provide housing, full care, and social rehabilitation to people who cannot take care of themselves, due to health, as well as orphans and children without parental care. In 2016 there were 45 such institutions. The Children's institutional home-shelter where the in-service programs were studied is one of the 30 social care centres founded by local governments and other organisations, located 60 kilometres from the capital city of Latvia. In 2017, this home-shelter housed 35 children from ages 3 to 17.