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This study focuses on the assessment of toddlers’ developmental quotient (DQ) in a situation of early parental failures, with three different groups and two control groups. The French Brunet-Lezine test was carried out with thirty toddlers in foster care institutions (group 4). Results were compared to the DQ of children in day care (thirty children—group 5). No significant difference was found on overall DQ between the children in a foster care institution and the children in day care. However, more toddlers growing up in foster care show abnormal partial DQs. The analysis of the partial DQs shows that the equivalence of the global DQ (GDQ) between group 4 and 5 is due to a postural DQ that is often higher by 15 points in group 4. A parallel study was conducted in a foster institution for children. Eleven children were tested on their arrival and then one month after. This was in order to test the children as close as possible to the familial traumatic experiences they had undergone, and then to understand the protective effect of staying in a foster institution, compared with living in a very dysfunctional family. The GDQ of each child increased significantly between the two testing sessions. The Brunet-Lezine developmental testing was considered a good indicator of toddlers’ mental suffering. Clinical vignettes are detailed, illustrating the situation of the children in the different research groups. Such assessments elicited some anxiety in some children and lowered the expression of their competences. In a foster care institution, group model internalization may influence toddlers’ individuation ability.