More kids in care than thought: study
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.
