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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Community Care or the Institution?

Daphetone Siame, 2007

Brief article observing the proliferation of orphanages in Zambia. Points to several models of community-based care as alternatives better able to address the rights and needs of children.

Caring for Orphaned, Abandoned and Maltreated Children: Bucharest Early Intervention Project - Powerpoint Presentation

Charles Nelson, Nathan Fox, Charles Zeanah, Dana Johnson, 2007

A powerpoint presentation on the research findings of the Bucharest Early Intervention Project team. Includes comparisons of children raised in institutional care, vs. children placed in foster care, vs. children raised in the community.

Developing Residential Child Care Project: Participation and Consultation in Residential Child Care in England

Lucy Milich, 2007

This report aims to provide insight into children’s perceptions of participation within England’s residential care system, and to note any potential or perceived barriers to participation.

Rapid Assessment of Islamic Boarding Schools (Dayahs) in Post-Tsunami Aceh

Florence Martin and Tata Sudrajat - Dinas Pendidikan Provinsi NAD, Save the Children and Unicef, 2007

This paper presents a study on the children who were sent to orphanages or Islamic boarding schools (Dayahs) in Indonesia in the aftermath of the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami.

Deinstitutionalisation and community living – outcomes and costs: report of a European Study

Mansell J, Knapp M, Beadle-Brown J and Beecham, J , 2007

This project aimed to bring together the available information on the number of disabled people living in residential institutions in 28 European countries, and to identify successful strategies for replacing institutions with community-based services, paying particular attention to economic issues in the transition. It is the largest study of its kind. This project was funded in order to identify as a priority the practical considerations of how to support states making the transition to community-based services, including managing the costs of doing so.

Armenia: Minimum Child Care Standards for Child Care Organizations

31 Dec 2006

Guidelines for the minimum standards for residential childcare institutions in Armenia, including how the child should be received, cared for, and the arrangements for the child leaving the institution.

Assessment and Analysis of the Situation of Children without Primary Caregivers in Vietnam

UNICEF Vietnam , 19 Dec 2006

Overview of institutional and alternative care for Children in Need of Special Protection in Vietnam

Children of the Dust: Abuse of Hanoi Street Children in Detention

Human Rights Watch, 01 Nov 2006

For street children in Hanoi, Vietnam is falling far short of its obligations under Vietnamese and international law, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Timor-Leste Forms for Residential Care

Timor Leste - Division of Social Services, 07 Aug 2006

Practical and professional paperwork for residential care including registration and assessment forms, application for renewal of licences, referral forms, and emergency admission forms. Can be modified for different country contexts.

Timor-Leste Residential Care Centre Forms.doc

Standards for Children's Home in Guyana

Ministry of Human Services and Social Security , 01 Aug 2006

A set of standards for measurable quality in service provision for children living in homes. Outlines the rights of a child, planning and legalizing children’s care, children’s home administration, management and staffing, and safeguarding child welfare while in the home, which includes nutrition, health, education and religion.