Addo, Reuben2019-11-062019-11-062017https://hdl.handle.net/10657/5264Although several studies have shown that children raised in institutional care facilities experience greater mental health symptoms than those raised in noninstitutionalized settings, children across sub-Saharan Africa are continually being placed in institutional care facilities. However, prior to the establishment of institutional care facilities, Africans relied on traditional cultural practices such as kinship fostering and shared child rearing to care for children, especially orphaned children. As traditional cultural practices continue to weaken, due partly to urbanization, institutional care facilities operated mostly by nonprofit organizations have become the primary alternative response to the care of orphans and vulnerable children. Traditional ways of intervening in cases of orphans and vulnerable children have been replaced with institutional care facilities, relegating the role of the extended family system. This paper examines institutional care facilities in the context of sub-Saharan Africa; in addition social development is suggested as a conceptual framework to finding alternative strategies to institutionalizing orphans and vulnerable children.en-USPerspectives on Social WorkReuben AddoOrphans and Vulnerable ChildrenInstitutional Care FacilitiesSub-Saharan AfricaSocial DevelopmentPerspectives on Social WorkSocial workOrphans and Vulnerable ChildrenInstitutional Care FacilitiesSub-Saharan AfricaSocial DevelopmentArticle