Working to protect children with disabilities

An estimated 8 to 10 million children live in residential or institutional care around the world. And those born with disabilities are particularly vulnerable to being locked away and forgotten – many from birth. In some countries, doctors encourage parents to give up their child with a disability and in others, a child born with a disability is looked upon as a curse or punishment to the family. But in many cases, families would keep their children at home if there was adequate support. Up to 95% of children in residential care reportedly have at least one living parent or extended family. It is disability, social exclusion and poverty that push most children into these facilities.