Children Living in Residential Care in Ghana: Findings from a survey of well-being

Accurate and reliable data on children living in residential care institutions are essential. However, these children are not identified through household surveys and, as a result, are not typically included in official national statistics on key indicators of child well-being. This includes indicators that comprise global monitoring frameworks, such as the Sustainable Development Goals.

To begin to address this critical data gap, the Ghana Statistical Service implemented a national census and survey on children in residential care. The exercise  is the first time that Ghana has collected data on children in residential care settings by applying a number of pre-existing tools from international survey programmes, such as the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys and other validated instruments, to an institutional population.