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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Internados: Las prácticas judiciales de institucionalización por protección de niños, niñas y adolescentes en la ciudad de Montevideo

Agustina López y Javier Palummo - UNICEF Uruguay, Fundación Justicia y Derecho, 01 Nov 2013

la publicación que aquí se presenta pretende ser un aporte para conocer y entender las situaciones que llegan al sistema de justicia, al brindar evidencia que contribuya a seguir ajustando las prácticas judiciales a los estándares de los derechos humanos de la infancia.

Latin American and Caribbean region launches Call to Action to end the placement of children under three years of age in institutions

UNICEF LAC, 22 Oct 2013

On the 22nd October 2013, a new regional campaign in the Latin American and Caribbean region was launched to end the placement of children under three years of age in institutions.

MOLDOVA: General Presentation "Protecting Children of Moldova from Family Separation, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation"

Dr. Stela Grigorash, 17 Oct 2013

The first of two important presentations by Dr. Stela Grigorash, the Director of Partnerships for EveryChild Moldova, on the important work and lessons learnt in reforming the care system in that country.

MOLDOVA: Technical Presentation "Protecting Children of Moldova from family separation, abuse, neglect and exploitation"

Dr. Stela Grigorash, 17 Oct 2013

The second of two important presentations by Dr. Stela Grigorash, the Director of Partnerships for EveryChild Moldova, on the important work and lessons learnt in reforming the care system in that country.

Young People's Transitions from Care to Adulthood in European and Postcommunist Eastern European and Central Asian Societies

Mike Stein, Australian Social Work, 2014, Vol. 67, No. 1, 24–38, 02 Oct 2013

This study compares the data on young people transitioning from out of home care from 9 non-communist European countries examined in the INTRAC document with 14 post-communist countries reviewed in the SOS and INTRAC publications.

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Indonesia: Changing the Paradigm - Save the Children's Work to Strengthen the Child Protection System 2005-2012

Florence Martin, 01 Oct 2013

This report documents the work conducted by Save the Children in collaboration with the Indonesian Ministry of Social Affairs over a period of 7 years to strengthen the national child protection system and change the underlying paradigm for that system away from over-reliance on residential care and towards child and family centered responses.

Ending the Placement of Children Under Three in Institutions: Report from the International Ministerial Conference, Sofia, November 2012

UNICEF , 01 Oct 2013

This Report from the international ministerial conference, held in Sofia, 21–22 November 2012, entitled 'Ending the placement of children under three in institutions: support nurturing families for all young children', brings together the presentations, political commitments and priority actions identified by the participants, including 20 governments from Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

A Better Way to Protect ALL Children: The Theory and Practice of Child Protection Systems, Conference Report

UNICEF, UNHCR, Save the Children and World Vision, 15 Sep 2013

This report of a major conference held in New Delhi in November 2012 entitled “A Better Way to Protect ALL Children: The Theory and Practice of Child Protection Systems”, encapsulates the substantive content of the presentations and related discussion; provides an analysis and documents the journey; and suggest an agenda, or at least direction, for future work on Child Protection systems.

Performance Audit Report of the Auditor General on the Regulation of Residential Homes for Children (Orphanages) by the Department of Social Welfare (DSW)

Ghana Audit Service, Republic of Ghana, 26 Aug 2013

This audit was conducted to determine whether the Department of Social Welfare in Ghana was sufficiently regulating the operations of Residential Homes for Children (orphanages) to ensure the care and protection of children living in institutions.

Severe punishment of children by staff in Romanian placement centers for school-aged children: Effects of child and institutional characteristics

Adrian V. Rus, Ecaterina Stativa, Jacquelyn S. Pennings, David R. Cross, Naomi Ekas, Karyn B. Purvis, Sheri R. Parris - Child Abuse & Neglect, 07 Aug 2013

The objective of this study was to determine whether children's characteristics and/or institutional characteristics were predictors of severe punishments (including beatings) and/or frequency of punishments that children received from staff in Romanian institutions.

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