Children's homes are located in Tallinn, Tartu and Jõhvi, but the service is available to all children in need in Estonia.

The Children's Shelter service is provided by different professionals working together for the well-being of the child, such as a child protection worker, police, prosecutor, psychologist and many others.

The childminder team assesses the child's health and social situation and further needs, carries out the necessary investigations to resolve the case, and provides the child with the necessary support, counselling and refers the family to a psychologist or therapist.

In order to access the service, the child protection worker in the local authority must contact the specialist at the children's home and submit an application for childminder services. The childminder can also be contacted by the parent or the child themselves, or by a member of the public or a professional concerned about the child's sexual behaviour.

Child abuse can be emotional, physical or sexual. It is also child neglect. Sexual abuse of a child is the involvement of a child in sexual activities. The child does not fully understand the content of the activity and is therefore unable to give adequate consent.

Risk factors for child abuse are often a lack of parental empathy and mental and/or physical violence in the home.