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.

Displaying 411 - 420 of 1459

Browse Other Topics

Disinhibited Social Engagement Disorder in Early Childhood Predicts Reduced Competence in Early Adolescence

Katherine L. Guyon-Harris, Kathryn L. Humphreys, Devi Miron, Mary Margaret Gleason, Charles A. Nelson, Nathan A. Fox, Charles H. Zeanah - Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 22 May 2019

In a sample of 136 Romanian children from the Bucharest Early Intervention Project (BEIP), who were exposed to early psychosocial deprivation in the form of institutional care, the authors of this study examined caregiver-reported and observer-rated signs of disinhibited social engagement disorder (DSED).

View Article

Predictive factors for changes in quality of life among children and adolescents in youth welfare institutions

Tamara Gander, Cyril Boonmann, Jörg M. Fegert, Michael Kölch, Klaus Schmeck, Alain Di Gallo, Claudia Dölitzsch, Marc Schmid - Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 17 May 2019

This study investigated what factors are associated with an improvement in quality of life (QoL) during residential stay for children and adolescents living in youth welfare institutions in Switzerland.

View Article

A gender-focused analysis of structural and social precipitators to child institutionalization in Azerbaijan: A qualitative study

Emily Claypool & Leyla Ismayilova - Social Science & Medicine, 13 May 2019

Using a phenomenological approach, this qualitative study explores the contexts of institutional placement of children in Azerbaijan from their caregivers' perspectives.

View Article

One size does not fit all: A systematic review of training outcomes on residential youth care professionals' skills

A. Eenshuistra, A. T. Harder, E. J. Knorth - Children and Youth Services Review, 11 May 2019

Despite the importance of training residential youth care professionals to increase their professional competences, little attention has been paid so far to the influence of training on the behaviour and skills of residential professionals. This study aims to gain greater insight into the effects of training on the skills of these professionals.

View Article

Children and youth in out-of-home care: What can predict an initial change in placement?

Merav Jedwab, Yanfeng Xu, Daniel Keyser, Terry V. Shaw - Child Abuse & Neglect, 04 May 2019

The objectives of this study were: (a) to measure the time-to-initial placement change in different types of settings, including non-relative foster homes, kinship care, residential treatment centers (RTC), group homes and other types of settings; and (b) to identify predictors of the initial placement change.

View Article

The Production and Reproduction of Kinship in Charitable Children’s Institutions in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya

Allison Gayapersad, Caroline Ombok, Allan Kamanda, Carren Tarus, David Ayuku, Paula Braitstein - Child & Youth Care Forum, 03 May 2019

The goal of this study was to examine whether and how alternative kinship structures were reproduced in Charitable Children’s Institutions (CCIs) in Kenya.

View Article

Health Promotion of Children and Young Adults Who Live in Residential Care Institutions in Portugal

Cláudia Helena Julião - Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, 02 May 2019

This study focused on health promotion for children and young adults who live in residential care institutions in Portugal.

View Article

Survivors of institutional abuse in long-term child care in Scotland

Alan Carr, Finiki Nearchou, Hollie Duff, Dearbhaile Ní Mhaoileoin, Katie Cullen, Annie O’Dowd, Laaura Battigelli - Child Abuse & Neglect, 02 May 2019

The objective of this research project was to profile the experiences of survivors abused in long-term child care in Scotland, and to develop a model which linked maltreatment, risk and protective factors, and outcomes.

View Article

Preliminary psychometric evidence of the Greek adaptation to the EC-CC HOME scale for use in institutional environments

Anna Touloumakos, Alexia Barrable, Kalomoira Tsantila - Advances in Developmental and Educational Psychology, 01 May 2019

Given the impact that institutional care has been found to have on psychological and cognitive outcomes, the authors make the case for the adaptation of Early Childhood Child Care HOME (EC-CC-HOME), a world-renowned instrument that assesses children’s child-care environment, to the Greek context.

View Article

At the Mexico-US border and segregated from society: Children and adults with disabilities subject to arbitrary detention, abuse and early death inside Mexican orphanages and institutions

Priscila Rodríguez, Javier Aceves, Laurie Ahern, Lisbet Brizuela, Diane Jacobstein, John Heffernan, Ivonne Millán, Eric Rosenthal - Disability Rights International, 01 May 2019

Disability Rights International (DRI) carried out two investigation trips to Baja California, Mexico, in November 2018 and February 2019, visiting four residential, private institutions for children and adults – including migrants - with disabilities. This report presents the findings from these investigations.