placed through inter-country adoptions, and establishes machinery to monitor the well-being of children; to ensure the best interests and safety and protection of children placed in temporary alternative care. 161. As previously noted, the Child Rights Act recognizes the rights of all children to live with and be cared for by their parents and family. As per the requirements of the ACRWC and the CRC, the Act prohibits the removal of a child from his or her parents and family without a court order based on evidence showing that continued residence with his or her parents would lead to significant harm to the child, or subject the child to serious abuse, or not be in the best interests of the child. 162. The Child Rights Act further obliges the State, acting through the district council, to ensure that children deprived of parental care or their family environment, are provided with alternative care. The act provides that a Family Court may issue a care order for the placement of a child in need of care and protection in alternative care. Upon the issue of such an order, the child may, at the discretion of a probation officer or social welfare officer, place the child (for a maximum of three years) in either an approved residential home, or with an approved fit person, or at the home of a parent, guardian or relative. A child is regarded as being in need of care and protection if he or she, inter alia:  has been orphaned or abandoned, been neglected or maltreated by his caregivers,  is destitute,  is in the care of a parent who is unfit because of criminal or drunken habits,  is living or begging on the streets;  is a victim of trafficking.  has 163. The history and social and economic landscape of Sierra Leone has given rise to a large population of vulnerable children deprived of the care and support of their families, extended family members as well from community support structures. The extended civil war, high levels of poverty, disease and chronic illness, including HIV and AIDS and limited availability of services, especially in rural areas have eroded the capacity of parents, families and communities to provide care and support to children to ensure their survival and development to their full potential. 164. Whilst many children who were separated from their families during the war were reunited through the post-war DDR and associated programmes (discussed in some detail previously in this report) a substantial number could not be reunited because families could not be traced, or because of instability in their home areas (UNICEFSierra Leone, 2009). The number of vulnerable children lacking parental care and requiring alternative/additional care and support increased further after the war. Social and economic factors such as widespread and aggravated poverty, the prevalence of disease and chronic illnesses, urban migration for lack of services, infrastructure and opportunities in rural areas severely undermined the capacity of parents, families and communities to provide adequately for and protect children. The GoSL estimated in 2012 that 27 percent of the total population of children is vulnerable given that they are deprived of the protection of a primary adult caregiver. Approximately 11 percent are orphans who have lost one or both parents. In addition to orphans, there are large numbers of children made vulnerable by other factors such as children living in 6. Family Environment and Alternative Care  47