Alternatives for abandoned children: insights from the Bucharest Early Intervention Project

Abstract

The Bucharest Early Intervention Project is the first and only randomized controlled trial of foster care as an alternative to institutional care for orphaned and abandoned children. Across various domains of brain and behavioral development we demonstrated that children in families developed more favorably than children in institutions, that foster care remediates some but not all compromises associated with institutional placement and that earlier placement in foster care leads to more developmental gains in some but not all domains. In addition to early placement, higher quality of care provided and more stable placements for children all enhanced outcomes. These results have important implications for science, practice and policy.