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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Re-Thinking and Reconceptualizing Child Care Institutionalisation in South Africa: Effects and Impacts on Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVCs)

S. M Kang’ethe and Abigail Makuyana - Journal of Social Science , 2015

The present study, through an extensive review of literature has explored and reconceptualised institutional care and considered the dynamics of institutionalization. The study also examines the effects and impacts of institutionalization on OVCs in South Africa, such as educational attainment, socialization and psychosocial impacts.

International Volunteering Video

Globalsl.org, 2015

This video from Globalsl.org, produced by Kindea Labs, describes both the negative impacts of orphanage volunteering and tourism as well as the ways in which international volunteering can be conducted appropriately for a positive impact on a community.

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Paper: Effects of early institutionalization on the development of emotion processing: a case for relative sparing?

Margaret C. Moulson, Kristin Shutts, Nathan A. Fox, Charles H. Zeanah, Elizabeth S. Spelke, and Charles A. Nelson - Developmental Science, 2015

This study tested the capacity to perceive visual expressions of emotion, and to use those expressions as guides to social decisions, in three groups of 8- to 10-year-old Romanian children: children abandoned to institutions then randomly assigned to remain in ‘care as usual’ (institutional care); children abandoned to institutions then randomly assigned to a foster care intervention; and community children who had never been institutionalized.

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Exploring the Appropriateness of Institutionalized Care of Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVCs) in the Era of HIV/AIDS: Examples from South Africa and Botswana

Dudzai Nyamutinga and S. M. Kang’ethe - Journal of Human Ecology , 2015

The present study aimed to evaluate and discuss the appropriateness of institutions caring for Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVCs) in the face of HIV/AIDS through a systematic literature review.

Ending Institutionalisation: An analysis of the financing of the deinstitutionalisation process in Bulgaria

Georgette Mulheir - Lumos, 2015

According to this report from Lumos, in 2010 there were more than 6,700 children living in institutions in Bulgaria.

Don’t Create More Orphans (Video)

Child Safe Network, 2015

This video was produced as part of the “Don’t Create More Orphans” Campaign, developed by Child Safe Network, Friends International, and partners.

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Sibling Placement and Contact in Out-Of-Home Care

Dr. Joseph J. McDowall - Create Foundation, 2015

This research report analyzes the contributing factors in children and youth’s ability to be placed in care alongside siblings, as well as how caseworkers view sibling placements in Australia’s child welfare system.

Moving to My New Home: A Book for Children to Explain What will Happen During the Time the Institution is Closing

Lumos, 2015

The aim of this book is to explain to children what to expect during the time the institution in which they reside is closing.

Residential school placements for children and young people with intellectual disabilities: Their use and implications for Adult Social Care

Nick Gore, Serena Brady, Magnus Cormack, Peter McGill, Jacqui Shurlock, Freddy Jackson-Brown, Caroline Reid, Rosey Singh, Alexandra Legge, Maria Saville and Sarah Wedge - NIHR School for Social Care Research, 2015

The current review collates research and policy regarding use of residential schools for children and young people with intellectual disabilities in the UK and transition from these settings to adult services.

Aging Out of Care in Ethiopia: Challenges and Implications Facing Orphans and Vulnerable Youth

Julia M. Pryce, Sarah Lyn Jones, Anne Wildman, Anita Thomas, Kristen Okrzesik, and Katherine Kaufka-Walts - Emerging Adulthood, 2015

This interpretive study examines the experiences of 54 Ethiopian emerging adults who had aged out of institutional care facilities. Findings are derived from interviews and focus groups in which questions and activities focused on the challenges faced by participants and the supports they relied on throughout the transition process.

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