More kids in care than thought: study
Fri, 24 March 2017

Almost one in every 100 children in Cambodia is living in a residential care institution, a number far higher than previous estimates, according to a new report in the British Medical Journal.

Around 70 percent of the children in Cambodia’s orphanages are estimated to have at least one living parent, and the government has pledged to return 30 percent of orphanage residents back to their families by 2018. The new study – conducted by Cambodia’s National Institute of Statistics, together with researchers from Columbia University and the consulting firm Moulathan – aimed to produce more accurate data to help the government track its progress towards reaching the reintegration goal.

But the researchers found that around 48,775 children live in residential care, a number far higher than the figure of 11,453 children the government previously presented. Of those children, more than half are between the ages of 13 and 17.

Among the children surveyed who had at least one living parent, the majority were living in an institution in the same province as their parent. According to the study’s authors, the high number of institutionalised youth is indicative of a lack of alternatives for parents who struggle to support their dependents.

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/m ... ught-study

i see mlop patang trucks full of kids. surely they cant all be orphans or street kids?

Good article from 2016 on the difficulties of getting "orphans" out of care homes and back to families and communities:

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/post-weeke ... ged-system