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Institutional care is care that is offered to large groups of children which offers the same services for all children regardless of their age, gender, ability, prior family situation etc. These institutions are often isolated from the rest of the community and provide strict routines for the children in their care. Often you can think of them as orphanages. 

In the modern age, a significant amount of research has been conducted to indicate that institutional care is very damaging to children. As a result, institutional care is being phased out where possible. Institutions also create a deadly cycle where people give their children up because of poverty or violence. Most children in institutions are not orphans, but the problems that led to their being placed there are never addressed. Deinstitutionalizing is important not only to helping children but improving society. In the worst cases, children are coerced into being given up to institutions.

ARE THE JEDI ADOPTING OR INDUCTING INTO AN INSTITUTION?

The Jedi are not adopting children because when you adopt a child, you bring them into a family. You love them, teach them, and guide them. But don’t the Jedi do that? You may ask. To which I will say, they do not, because the Jedi only adopt these children because they are Force-Sensitive. If the child fails to become an apprentice, they might go into the service corps, or they will be sent back to their biological parents.

This is problematic. When you adopt a child, you do not say, if you are a good parent, that if you do not meet certain requirements we will send you away to someone else. The notion that you could be sent back is very damaging. Moreover, the Jedi only offer certain paths. Stay and be a knight, join the service corps, or leave. Moreover, if you leave, you are not likely to have much contact with your old “family.” This means that the model of raising children the Jedi have is not that of adoption and family but that of an institution for people with “special abilities.” The question is if the pros of this strategy outweigh the cons. It has been acknowledged institutions are necessary. 

First though, let’s look at the problems with institutions before we get into how they would be handled when they are needed. 

THE NEEDS OF THE INDIVIDUAL

When growing up in an institution, a child’s emotional, cognitive, or physical health can be affected. With so many children raised together it can make it hard for a parental figure to monitor them without things getting missed. Individual needs can become lost in the morass. Fortunately, the arrangement of Jedi into clans does diminish the likelihood of his happening. Children can at least for to their clan-master for guidance and help.

However, institutional care is also typically governed by a strict regimen meaning children will follow a daily schedule with little flexibility. This can lead to inconsideration for privacy and individuality. Children will eat, sleep, and play regardless of individual needs. Children will not be easily allowed to show personal preference or individuality. Clothes, towels, and toys will be shared and living space may not allow for privacy.

We know that this is the case for the Jedi. They do have a strict schedule of meditation and training. Moreover, “Possession is forbidden.” The clans are placed into dormitories where everything would be shared. They are not encouraged to claim objects as their own since “possession is forbidden.” Unfortunately, in this context it is not encouraging selflessness. Selflessness is when you give up something you own or that you care for. it is a choice. In this case, it is teaching that your own needs do not matter. The choice is taken away. Note it is not the shared accommodations that is the issue so much as the standardization that ends up treating children with one-size fits all. There is precious little individuality or privacy allowed in institutional care and this seems mirrored in the Jedi practice.

ATTACHMENT

Research has indicated that the changing of multiple care-givers in institutional care is detrimental to the ability of children to learn to from healthy relationships. This can lead to social difficulties later on. The Jedi nursery we have seen has a bunch of babies all lined up with multiple different care-givers. When the children are about three, by human standards of development, they are placed into clans and handed off to the next care-giver who is in charge of the clan. If that master were to leave, there would be a new one. This instability can be harmful  

I can only imagine the Jedi might encourage this kind of lack of stable attachment given they do not even encourage “attachment.” Even worse, the Jedi younglings know that if they do not make the cut, they may get sent away. This means that love for them is conditional not unconditional. (Assuming they are even told they are loved of course.) 

Note that healthy attachments are essential to human happiness. I do not mean marriage. I am not against celibacy, (provided it is a choice.) However, even priests, to give a real-world example, need healthy attachments and connections in their life. The Jedi make it difficult for children to learn how to form these at a young age which is detrimental to their mental and social well-being.

DISEMPOWERMENT

Another issue with institutional care is how much it fails to empower children. They will not likely learn the life skills that they need. Do they know how to prepare food? Manage personal finances? Will they have the means or support to get higher education? Ultimately, are they prepared for the outside world? The answer is a resounding “no” as a rule.

To add insult to injury, institutional care isolates children from society and community. They have no external connections to rely on. They would not even know how to interact in society if they were so inclined.

The Jedi have all of these problems. We see no indication that most Jedi are offered higher education. We know that that if they get paid, it is precious little, and odds are they might not get paid at all. They will be given what they need for the mission and no more. If they choose to leave, they are likely to have few if any friends they meet regularly outside the Order. If they do leave, what will they do for a living? Where can they work? What are their qualifications? Finally, they are so isolated from society, just taking orders from the Senate, do they even know what the citizens need or how to relate to them? 

CULTURE AND COMMUNITY

Jedi youngling may be told they are allowed to learn about the culture of their home worlds. However, you can study from a book all about another  culture...it’s not the same as living in it. Hence, these children are estranged from their culture, (and are not adopted into another in the conventional sense).

However, another issue with institutional care is how it can exacerbate bad social situations. Many children wind up in institutional care not because they are orphans but because of other social issues.  It can be wrongly perceived as the safest option for authorities and desperate parents who will give up children to these institutions. These desperate parents may not be able to educate their children or provide health care. There may be violence or abuse. Children with special needs may be sent to “specialist” institutional care under the notion that that is the best place for them due to lack of information. It may even be the only available option.

All of this means that the social issues at the root of these problems are not addressed. Rather than helping the families with these issues, or even providing a safe home for the child with another family, the institution causes a different form of harm. Worse, since these children retain the damages of the institution, they may only contribute to the cycle of social decay.

In the case of the Jedi, they are separated from their families and culture. They would likely come under the “special needs” category where parents believe the only thing they can do to help their children is to give them to the Order for training.

Additionally, in the sense of not helping community issues and social problems, in the old EU, there was a planet that loved the Jedi because they were dirt-poor and saw the Temple as a place where they could hope their children would have a better life. What was done to help these poor, desperate people though? They must have languished for centuries without support. Additionally, Anakin Skywalker was never even allowed to see his mother or help her get out of slavery. They Jedi never petitioned for senate support for him to be allowed to go back and free slaves. Hence, he was separated from his community and culture. The Jedi may allow superficial things like Ahsoka’s Akul teeth, but allow a Jedi child to go back and right wrongs in his community? Be in touch with their community? That is not always something encouraged.

CAN CERTAIN CIRUMSTANCES JUSTIFY INSTITUTIONAL CARE?

Now, for all I have said, there are certain circumstances where institutional care may be necessary. Arguments could be made that being Force-Sensitive and struggling if untrained is one of those. I would not disagree. However, in such cases there need to be certain caveats.

Due to the significant research that indicates that institutional care is harmful, many countries are doing their part to transition to family-like structures. In the cases that institutional care is necessary, the following guidelines are expected. (I am only indicating those applicable to the Jedi Order.)

1.An admission criterion needs to be considered. Is institutional care really necessary? If not, wait until the child is old enough for an apprenticeship. In most cases, I would say that would cut down on almost all the younglings. Those few that are in dangerous or in abusive situations could be taken in, or even properly adopted.  

2.In the case where it is a special situation with a powerful Force-Sensitive in dire need of intervention, facilitate connections with their biological family. There is no reason for a traumatic separation to be enforced. Contrary to what the Jedi seem to believe, taking children from parents too young actually makes emotional regulation harder. Additionally, the time away from their parents should be as limited as possible.

3.Children need to be given the tools to influence their own future. They cannot be kept dependent upon an institution and their needs and wishes must be considered.

4.Accountability needs to be instated. Institutional care often has abuse and investigations should be allowed. If the number of younglings is high, make sure people in charge of them have the proper training.

Unfortunately, the Jedi do not subscribe to these criteria. This does not make them evil. In our world, institutional care often, albeit not always, seems to have come from a place of good intent. However, the Jedi do not do it well at all. They are well-intentioned, but the road to Hell is paved with that. The fact of the matter is, taking children only to train them in the manner that they do is detrimental. Had they survived Palpatine, they would have had to make sweeping changes given their new unpopularity. Hopefully, these changes would have been for the better.

In the end, there is nothing that the Jedi teach that requires absolute separation from biological family and culture. (If there is a good argument to be made I would like to hear it.) Being rational and processing your emotions and being mindful are all things adults or teens can learn. If, love is not an issue, only failing in “letting go,” then there is no reason not to allow children to see a nd love their families. How is that different from a “Jedi family?” Whatever the Jedi intent, in the end, they exhibit many of the problems of institutional care. They are far from the worst, but they are not good in their child-rearing either. The research indicates otherwise.