The research review indicates that young children in institutional care are at greater risk for attachment disorders and developmental delays in social, behavioral, and cognitive functioning. Research findings also reveal that these children suffer delays in their physical growth and show evidence of neural atrophy and abnormal brain development. Researchers have documented children who are placed in institutional care as infants will suffer developmental harms if they are not placed in family-based care by the age of 6 months. It is suggested that the major source of harm to institutionalized children is a lack of a one-to-one relationship with a primary caregiver and that the harms suffered by children in institutional care resemble the harms caused by interpersonal violence. The research review findings underscore the critical need for policymakers to ensure that children grow up in family environments. The research review involved a systematic approach that targeted research based on the criteria of population (children 0 to 17 years), intervention type (residential care without a primary caregiver), comparator (children exposed to family-based care with a primary caregiver), and outcome (attachment patterns, social and behavioral development, and cognitive development). Searches were conducted of online databases for research published between 1996 and 2003, using key words that included children and residential care, deprivation, early privation, and institutionalization. A total of 27 research articles were identified that met the inclusion criteria. Future research should focus on developing good practices for deinstitutionalizing children in residential care. References