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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Prevalence and Comorbidity of Mental Disorders Among Adolescents Living in Residential Youth Care

Thomas Jozefiak , Nanna Sønnichsen Kayed, Tormod Rimehaug, Anne Kristine Wormdal, Ann Mari Brubakk, and Lars Wichstrøm , 07 Mar 2015

The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and comorbidity of mental disorders applying diagnostic interviews in an entire population of adolescents living in residential youth care (RYC) in Norway.

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Deaf and Disabled Children Talking About Child Protection

Julie Taylor, Audrey Cameron, Christine Jones, Anita Franklin, Kirsten Stalker, Deborah Fry - University of Edinburgh/NSPCC , 01 Mar 2015

This report summarises the findings of original research commissioned by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) in the UK carried out by the University of Edinburgh/NSPCC Child Protection Research Centre to address a significant gap in current understandings of deaf and disabled children and young people's experiences of the child protection system.

Out of Care, into University: Raising Higher Education Access and Achievement of Care Leavers

Dr Andrew Harvey, Dr Patricia McNamara, Lisa Andrewartha, and Michael Luckman - LaTrobe University Access & Achievement Research Unit , 01 Mar 2015

This report aims to provide the basis for an agenda to improve university attendance among care leavers in Australia by highlighting the nature and extent of the problem, and suggesting practical solutions within both the education and community service sectors.

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Llaves para la autonomía: Acompañamiento de adolescentes desde el sistema de protección hacia la vida adulta

UNICEF y DONCEL, 01 Feb 2015

El presente curso surge del Acuerdo de Cooperación suscripto en 2014 entre UNICEF Argentina y la Asociación civil por los derechos de niños niñas adolescentes y jóvenes Doncel que tiene por objetivo principal contribuir a desarrollar un modelo de acompañamiento integral para adolescentes residentes en los hogares asistenciales de las provincias argentinas de Misiones, Jujuy, Chaco, Santa Fe y Tucumán en transición del sistema de protección hacia la autonomía y la vida adulta.

Residential care centre perspectives on the impacts of orphanage tourism in Cambodia

Joni Verstraete - Progress in Responsible Tourism Volume 3(2) February 2015, 01 Feb 2015

This article analyses on the phenomenon of orphanage tourism/ childcare tourism in Cambodia and its social and economic impacts by interviewing the managers directors or volunteer coordinators of nine residential care facilities and to develop recommendations and guidelines for the residential care centres and volunteer organisations to improve the volunteering practice in the future.

Are European Structural and Investment Funds Opening Doors for Europe’s Institutionalised Children in the 2014-2020 programming period?

Aagje Ieven, EuroChild , 01 Feb 2015

This report is based on the outcomes of a survey addressed to eight National Coordinators of the Opening Doors campaign. It aims to assess the extent to which EU Member States have used ESIF to catalyse child care systems reform.

The Science of Early Adversity: Is There a Role for Large Institutions in the Care of Vulnerable Children?

Anne E Berens, MSc, Prof Charles A Nelson, PhD - The Lancet , 29 Jan 2015

This review discusses the worldwide phenomenon of child institutionalisation and assesses scientific evidence on the developmental effects of early institutional care.

Indirect and verbal victimization by peers among at-risk youth in residential care

Shalhevet Attar-Schwartz, Mona Khoury-Kassabri - Child Abuse & Neglect, 24 Jan 2015

This study, based on a sample of 1,324 Jewish and Arab adolescents aged 11–19 in 32 RCSs, examines the prevalence and multilevel correlates of verbal (such as cursing) and indirect (such as social exclusion) forms of victimization by peers in residential care facilities.

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Effect of Maternal Deprivation on Child Development: A Comparative Study Between Orphanage and Urban Slum Children in Odisha

Sourajit Routray, Nijwm Mahilary and Rajkumar Paul - International Journal of Bioassays , 21 Jan 2015

This study compares the development of children living in orphanages with that of children living in slums with their biological parents in Odisha, India.

A comparison of youth resilience across seven South African sites

Adrian D. van Breda - Child and Family Social Work, 02 Jan 2015

This quantitative study of 575 South African children compared their resilience in terms of individual, family and community protective factors across seven sites, including child and youth care centres, schools in poor communities and schools in middle-class suburban communities.

A comparison of youth resilience across seven South African sites - Breda - 2015 - Child & Family Social Work - Wiley Online Library