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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‘The NGOs are breaking down our system’: Vulnerable children, NGOs, and the proliferation of orphanages in Ghana

Afra Galama - Masters' Thesis, Anthropology of Mobility, Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, 01 Jul 2010

The focus of this thesis is the position of orphans, vulnerable children and orphanages in Ghana in relation to the ‘help’ they receive from western volunteers and NGOs.

The Development of Gate-Keeping functions in Central and Eastern Europe and the CIS Lessons from Bulgaria, Kazakhstan and Ukraine

Andy Bilson , 01 Jun 2010

This report looks at children who enter institutional care because of being without parental care, children with disabilities, child victims of abuse and children in conflict with the law. The aim is to identify key routes through the systems in order to understand the nature of the difficulties that lead children to be placed in institutions and thereby to be able to identify alternative strategies that will better support families and children.

Improving Care Options for Children in Ethiopia through Understanding Institutional Child Care and Factors Driving Institutionalization

Family Health International , 01 Jun 2010

Findings and recommendations of the first national study of its kind in Ethiopia to study child care institutions, institutionalized children, and factors driving institutionalization.

Overlooked: Children with Disabilities in Residential Care

Alexandra L. Trout, Kathryn Casey, M. Beth Chmelka, Catherine DeSalvo, Robert Reid, and Michael H. Epstein, 13 May 2010

This study evaluated data of 123 children with and without disabilities in residential care to determine demographic, behavioral, mental health, and educational characteristics.

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Ideas Bank of Creative Activities for Children at Drop-in or Residential Centre

Colin Cotterill for End Child Prostitution, Child Pornagraphy and the Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes (ECPAT), 03 Mar 2010

A compilation of low-budget activities (e.g. play, sport, games, arts/crafts, music/movement, drama, reading/listening, and creative expression) for non-psychosocial professionals working at drop-in or residential centers.

Rightsizing Congregate Care: A Powerful First Step in Transforming Child Welfare Systems

Annie E. Casey Foundation, 01 Mar 2010

This new report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation outlines initiatives in four sites to help child welfare systems reduce institutional placements, improve outcomes, and support community services by changing the array of services, frontline practice, finances, performance management, and policy

Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children - Russian

UN General Assembly A/RES/64/142, 24 Feb 2010

Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children - Chinese

UN General Assembly A/RES/64/142 , 24 Feb 2010

Les lignes directrices relatives à la protection de remplacement pour les enfants

L'Assemblée Générale des Nations Unies A/RES/64/142, 24 Feb 2010

Les lignes directrices pour la prise en charge alternative des enfants ont été endorsées par l'Assemblée Générale des Nations Unies, dans le sillage de la commémoration du 20e anniversaire de la Convention des Nations Unies relative aux droits de l’enfant.

Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children - Arabic

UN General Assembly A/RES/64/142, 24 Feb 2010

The Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children were endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly on 20th November 2009, in connection with the 20th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. This momentous day marked a culmination of years of discussions and negotiations led by the Government of Brazil, in partnership with Group of Friends and civil society.