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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From Maid to Mother: Transforming Facilities, Staff Training, and Caregiver Dignity in an Institutional Facility for Young Children in Nepal

Amy Conley Wright, Dhirendra Lamsal, Mukunda Ksetree, Aalok Sharma and Kenneth Jaffe, 11 Mar 2014

Infant Mental Health Journal has published an important Special Issue on Global Research, Practice, and Policy Issues in the Care of Infants and Young Children at Risk. This article provides a case study of a project to improve the health, safety, and development of children birth to 6 years old in a large orphanage in Nepal.

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The Right of Boys and Girls to a Family. Alternative Care. Ending Institutionalization in the Americas

Inter-American Commission of Human Rights, 05 Mar 2014

This report by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) analyzes children’s right to live and be raised by their families, and establishes the resulting obligations for States when it comes to supporting and strengthening families’ ability to raise and care for their children.

Residential Children's Homes: Sixth Report of Session 2013–14

House of Commons Education Committee, 05 Mar 2014

This report examines the proposed reforms for the regulation of children’s residential care in England.

Institutionalization of Children in the Czech Republic: A Case of Path Dependency

Victoria Schmidt and Jo Daugherty Bailey, 01 Mar 2014

Despite the development of alternative forms of care, international and domestic pressures for change, and over 20 years of efforts at deinstitutionalization, the Czech Republic has one of the highest rates of institutionalization of children in E

Addicted to Orphans: Donor influence in Uganda's child protection system

Kristen E. Cheney, 21 Feb 2014

A presentation on the "Orphan Industrial Complex" at the Young Lives and Globalization in Africa workshop at the University of Liège, Belgium on 21st February 2014.

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An Exploration of the Differential Usage of Residential Childcare Across National Boundaries

Frank Ainsworth and June Thoburn, International Journal of Social Welfare 2014: 23: 16–24, 31 Jan 2014

This article reviews some of the language and conceptual issues that need to be addressed to be able to meaningfully compare differential usage of residential childcare services across national boundaries.

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How the Republic of Georgia has Nearly Eliminated the Use of Institutional Care for Children

Aaron Luis Greenberg and Natia Partskhaladze, 30 Jan 2014

The Infant Mental Health Journal has published an important Special Issue on Global Research, Practice, and Policy Issues in the Care of Infants and Young Children at Risk. This article documents how between 2005 and 2013, the Government in the Republic of Georgia closed 32 large, state-run institutions housing children without adequate family care.

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UNHCR Child Protection Issue Brief: Alternative Brief

UNHCR, 2014

This issue brief from the UNHCR highlights key messages from UNHCR in regards to alternative care, including the importance of making alternative care arrangements based on the best interests of the child and using residential or institutional care only as a very last resort.

Abandoned by the State: Violence, Neglect, and Isolation for Children with Disabilities in Russian Orphanages

Human Rights Watch , 2014

This Human Rights Watch report gives a detailed overview of the situation faced by children with disabilities in orphanages in Russia.

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Statutory guidance on children who run away or go missing from home or care

Department for Education, 2014

This guidance from the UK Department for Education sets out the steps local authorities and their partners should take to prevent children from going missing and to protect them when they do go missing.