Institutional care can be defined as a group living arrangement for children, in which remunerated adults, who would not be regarded as traditional guardians within the wider society, provide care. This definition implies an organized and deliberate structure to the living arrangements for children, and describes a professional (rather than parental) relationship between the adult and child. The Convention on the Rights of the Child, the UN Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children, and the Cambodian Government’s policy on Alternative Child Care, all state clearly that the institutionalization of vulnerable children should be a last resort, and not a final solution.