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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Prakas on Procedures to Implement the Policy on Alternative Care for Children (Cambodia)

Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation, Kingdom of Cambodia, 01 Oct 2011

This Prakas is intended to define roles and responsibilities of relevant competent agencies and establish procedures, operational guides, and forms to implement the Policy on Alternative Care for Children.

All Children Count: A Baseline Study of Children in Institutional Care in Malawi

The Ministry of Gender, Children, and Community Development of Malawi; Centre for Social Research (CSR) of the University of Malawi; UNICEF Malawi, 31 Aug 2011

This study commissioned by the Ministry of Gender, Children, and Community Development and financially and technically supported by UNICEF and the Better Care Network, describes the situation of children in institutional care in Malawi.

Towards Alternative Child Care Services in Armenia: Costing Residential Care Institutions and Community Based Services

UNICEF Armenia, 01 Aug 2011

This recent study by UNICEF in Armenia costed different types of residential care and community based services.

Institutionalised childhood and adolescence: Making serious Human Rights violations visible.

Matilde Luna - RELAF, 01 Aug 2011

This paper, produced by RELAF, is part of a series of publications on children without parental care in Latin America: Contexts, causes and answers. This document, and others in the series, pertains to the broad topic of children without parental care and examines the particular situation of institutionalised children.

At Home or In a Home: Formal Care and Adoption of Children in Eastern Europe and Central Asia

UNICEF, 01 Jul 2011

Published by UNICEF, the report At Home or in a Home, provides an overview of the major trends and concerns about children in formal care and institutions as well as adoption Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

Adolescents living in orphanages in Ankara: psychological symptoms, level of physical activity, and associated factors

Karadağ Çaman Ö and Özcebe H., 01 Jun 2011

Adolescents living in orphanages are at a disadvantage with respect to mental health. The aim of this study was to assess the distribution of psychological symptoms and their association with the level of physical activity (PA) in adolescents living in orphanages.

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Independent Assessment of the Deinstitutionalisation Process in Georgia

Andrew A. Dunn, 01 Jun 2011

This independent assessment examined, specifically, the deinstitutionalisation of children in special education boarding schools and child care institutions in the Republic of Georgia.

Scaling Down: Reducing, Reshaping and Improving Residential Care around the World

EveryChild , 12 May 2011

This paper summarizes the evidence base on residential care to promote better decision making among policy makers and child welfare practitioners

Analyse sur la situation des enfants dans les centres résidentiels au Burundi

Miranda Armstrong - UNICEF, International Rescue Committee, Ministere de la Solidarite Nationale, Des Droits de la Personne Humaine et du Genre, 01 May 2011

Le Gouvernement du Burundi, en collaboration avec l’UNICEF et l’ONG International Rescue Committee (IRC), a prévu de faire un état de lieux des centres résidentiels pour les enfants.

Violence Against Children in State-Run Residential Institutions in Kazakhstan: An Assessment

Robin N. Haarr , 01 May 2011

This study on violence against children in state-run residential institutions in Kazakhstan was conducted under the national Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights and UNICEF. Data was collected from six different types of state run- residential institutions for children in 3 regions using a multi-methods approach, including surveys with children ( 9-18 years old) and staffs, and interviews with young people (17-23 years old) who had left the care of these institutions.