Following the recent enactment of Cuba’s landmark Code for Children, Adolescents, and Youth, which enshrines young people as full rights-holders at the center of national policy, the country has moved to clarify how these legal protections will translate into tangible support for vulnerable minors separated from their biological families. In a decisive step to operationalize the new legal framework, the Cuban Ministry of Education (MINED) has issued Resolution 62, a comprehensive regulatory roadmap that formalizes the state’s commitment to guaranteeing every child and adolescent the right to grow in a safe, family-centered environment through structured alternative care and adoption pathways.
Central to the new regulation is the establishment of an updated, tiered classification of foster care facilities tailored to address the unique developmental and emotional needs of minors at different life stages. At the first tier are emergency and temporary care facilities, capped at a maximum of 12 residents with a maximum 30-day stay, designed to serve as an immediate safe haven for children removed from unsafe environments in crisis situations.
Under the resolution, institutional foster care is explicitly framed as an exceptional, temporary protective intervention rather than a long-term placement. It is only ordered by authorized governing bodies when a minor has been separated from their birth family, or when a birth family cannot adequately meet the child’s basic needs for well-being. All institutional care is delivered through specialized social assistance centers, structured to maintain a nurturing, safe environment that meets age, gender, and individual-specific requirements for hygiene, nutrition, infrastructure, and specialized professional care.
Beyond emergency placements, the regulation outlines two additional categories of institutional care: Early Childhood Care Facilities, which are limited to 10 children each, designed to mimic a family-style living environment, with stays ranging from three to six months based on the child’s age; and facilities for older minors aged 7 to 18, which are organized into small, home-like groups with a core focus on preparing youth for independent adult living and supporting family reunification wherever possible.
Resolution 62 enshrines robust protections for the rights and well-being of all minors entering the alternative care system. All children and their biological families receive continuous psycho-emotional support and guidance from trained personnel, starting at admission and continuing through the entire placement period and post-discharge transition. To ensure this critical support is delivered effectively, care facility management coordinates closely with community mental health centers and other public health institutions under Cuba’s Ministry of Public Health to provide specialized clinical psychology services for children.
Specific contingency protocols are also mandated for emergency situations and natural disasters, requiring facilities to activate procedures that prioritize the safety and emotional stability of children in care, while ensuring no interruption to their individualized care plans. The regulation also sets strict rules around sibling separation: it may only be ordered in exceptional circumstances, following a full multidisciplinary assessment that confirms cohabitation would harm the children’s rights and well-being, and when separation is required, the competent authority must implement formal measures to guarantee stable, accessible communication and visitation schedules, backed by professional support where needed, with ongoing monitoring from the Family Advocacy Office.
In addition to regulating institutional care facilities, Resolution 62 strengthens community-based care networks by formalizing the role of foster families. These families volunteer to host children from institutional care facilities during weekends and holiday periods, providing children with valuable exposure to regular family life while offering temporary respite for institutional staff. MINED holds formal responsibility for collaborating with municipal commissions and the Ombudsman’s Office to identify prospective foster families, with the explicit goal of placing more children in family-based settings rather than institutional care wherever possible.
For adoption processes, the regulation centers children’s emotional well-being by positioning foster homes as the core site of pre-adoption preparation. Before any adoption is finalized, a cross-disciplinary technical team of psychologists and social workers prepares a full administrative record of the child, delivers targeted psychological preparation to help the child adjust to the upcoming life change, and organizes gradual, paced introductory meetings with the prospective adoptive family. This child-centered approach is designed to ensure the entire process is respectful of the child’s needs and avoids inflicting additional trauma.
To further guarantee the quality of care across all alternative care settings, MINED will oversee full standardized training, certification, regular review, and ongoing oversight for all personnel working in institutional care for children and adolescents, ensuring all staff meet consistent professional standards to support vulnerable youth.