Best Practices for Residential/Institutional/Group Care of Children: A Harm Reduction Framework

Victor Groza & Kelley McCreery Bunkers - Child Maltreatment in Residential Care

This chapter appears in Child Maltreatment in Residential Care: History, Research, and Current Practice, a volume of research examining the institutionalization of children, child abuse and neglect in residential care, and interventions preventing and responding to violence against children living in out-of-home care settings around the world. 

Abstract

Residential care, institutions, and group homes have been one of the main placement options for orphaned, abandoned, or vulnerable children (OAVC) for centuries. Many children in low- and medium-resource countries with underdeveloped child protection systems are living in residential settings. There is ample research available on the negative effects that institutional care has on the physical, cognitive, and developmental development of children. Informed by this evidence, there is growing global consensus on the need to promote family-based alternatives and end reliance on residential care as the primary option for children in need of protection. Yet, in the interim, until a range of family-based care options are secured for children, residential care will be a reality for many countries. It is the goal of this chapter to use a harm reduction framework to present policies and practices that can reduce the negative effects of residential care on children’s development. Improving institutional care so that it is less detrimental to children is a means to an end with the goal being the establishment of strong child protection systems. It is not the goal of this paper to justify nor promote residential care.