Residential Care

Residential care refers to any group living arrangement where children are looked after by paid staff in a specially designated facility. It covers a wide variety of settings ranging from emergency shelters and small group homes, to larger-scale institutions such as orphanages or children’s homes. As a general rule, residential care should only be provided on a temporary basis, for example while efforts are made to promote family reintegration or to identify family based care options for children. In some cases however, certain forms of residential care can operate as a longer-term care solution for children.

Residential care can be a positive alternative for some girls and boys when it is used appropriately and meets certain standards. For example, small group home living arrangements or supported independent living can work well in cases where children (often older teenagers) don’t feel comfortable in a family setting, or where large groups of siblings want to stay together. Similarly in cases where children have suffered trauma, severe abuse or neglect, have a severe disability or require specialised support, small group settings where trained staff can provide therapeutic care may be an appropriate care option. As much as possible, residential facilities should be small, community-based, organised to resemble a family-type or small-group situation and allow for sufficient staff to provide individualised attention to children.

It is important to distinguish between residential care and institutional care, which should only be used as a last and temporary resort for children. Institutional care refers to large-scale group care within big institutional facilities and has been associated with a wide range of problems for children including physical, social and emotional under-development - with babies and infants under the age of three especially vulnerable to lasting harm. Long periods in an institution can deprive children of positive individual attention from consistent caregivers, make it difficult for them to assimilate back into a family and community, and are often linked to increased risk of sexual and physical abuse, a lack of stimulation, and harsh discipline.

In recent years, deinstitutionalisation has been at the heart of national care reform efforts, which seek to reduce reliance on institutional care and to promote family and community based care options for children instead. This includes efforts to promote ethical volunteerism within residential care centres, educate donors and to avoid proliferation of orphanages and children’s homes after humanitarian emergencies.

The documents in this section outline residential care options for children, examine the damaging impact of institutions, explore family and community-based care alternatives and describe care reform efforts including initiatives around ethical volunteerism.

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Exploring the Pathways between Care and Custody for Girls and Women

Claire Fitzpatrick, Katie Hunter, Jo Staines & Julie Shaw, 01 Oct 2019

This targeted literature review seeks to explore how to disrupt the routes between care and custody for girls and women, examining the over-representation of care experienced individuals in criminal justice settings.

Analysis of the child protection system in Bulgaria: Final Report (English)

UNICEF, 01 Oct 2019

This research is based on a stock-taking of the current situation. It is based on a comprehensive literature review and a genuine primary research with service users as well as policy makers, service providers, children and families.

A study on existing and new options of alternative family care for children and adolescents

Changing the Way We Care, 30 Sep 2019

This report from Changing the Way We Care reviews the range of available alternative care options in Guatemala and offers recommendations for additional alternative care modalities as well as deinstitutionalization and family preservation practices.

Nightmares and flashbacks: The impact of commercial sexual exploitation of children among female adolescents placed in residential care

Nadine Lanctôt, Joan A. Reid, Catherine Laurier - Child Abuse & Neglect, 30 Sep 2019

This study aimed to assess differences in the level of post-traumatic symptoms reported by those who experienced commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) during adolescence and those who did not.

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Country Care Review: Myanmar

Better Care Network, 19 Sep 2019

This country care review highlights the care-related Concluding Observations from the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Review of Service Delivery Systems for Welfare, Protection and Justice for Children in India

Murli Desai - Rights-based Integrated Child Protection Service Delivery Systems, 18 Sep 2019

The aim of this module from the book Rights-based Integrated Child Protection Service Delivery Systems is to review the service delivery systems for welfare, protection and justice for children in India.

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Specific Alternative Childcare Services

Murli Desai, 18 Sep 2019

The aim of this module from the book Rights-based Integrated Child Protection Service Delivery Systems is to learn to place children in specific alternative childcare services.

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General comment No. 24 (2019) on children’s rights in the child justice system

Committee on the Rights of the Child, 18 Sep 2019

This general comment from the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child addresses children's rights in the child justice system. The general comment notes several concerns and recommendations regarding the deprivation of liberty of children, including the consideration of the child's best interests, the need to promote successful reintegration of children, and the recognition of the harm caused by deprivation of liberty.

The Impact of the Care Setting on Child Rehabilitation

Better Care Network, 12 Sep 2019

In this video, Sreyna and Chenda, two practitioners from Hagar Cambodia, discuss their learning regarding the impact of the care setting on child rehabilitation.

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Family Tracing for Children Without Adequate Documentation

Better Care Network, 12 Sep 2019

In this video, Dy Noeut and Kim Malin of New Smile Organisation (NSO) discuss their experience of conducting family tracing as a part of reintegration efforts in the context of an unregistered orphanage where children’s files contained missing and inaccurate information.

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