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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ผลกระทบของ Covid-19 ต่อแหล่งทนสน สนุน และการดําเนินงาน ของสถานรองรบเด็กเอกชน ที ใหการเลี ยงดเด็กในรูปแบบสถาบน ส: สรุปผลการศึกษาสำหรับผู้บริจาคและแหล่งทุนที่สนับสนุนสถานรองรับเด็กเอกชน _ในต่างประเทศ

Better Care Network, Law Futures Centre - Griffith Law School, World Childhood Foundation, Eriks Development Partner, 2021

การศึกษานี้เป็นงานวิจัยเชิงคุณภาพขนาดเล็กที่เกี่ยวข้องกับการสัมภาษณ์แบบกึ่งโครงสร้าง 21 ครั้งกับผู้ก่อตั้ง ผู้ให้ทุน และผู้อำนวยการ RCI ใน 7 ประเทศ ได้รับการออกแบบมาเพื่อให้เข้าใจผลกระทบของโควิด-19 ได้ดีขึ้นในการดำเนินงานของสถาบันการดูแลที่อยู่อาศัย ซึ่งรวมถึงการจัดหาเงินทุน การจัดหาบุคลากร อาสาสมัคร การดูแลเด็ก การศึกษา ความสัมพันธ์ในครอบครัว และการรวมตัวกลับคืนสู่สังคม

English version

Buenas prácticas en la prestación de servicios de cuidado residencial de la niñez y adolescencia en Guatemala (Informe completo)

Changing the Way We Care, 2021

Estudio orientado a la transformación de servicios de cuidado residencial a familiar y comunitario de la niñez y adolescencia en Guatemala.

The psychosocial process underlying residential care placement decisions.

Bettencourt Rodrigues, L., Calheiros, M., & Pereira, C. - Decision-making and judgment in child welfare and protection: Theory, research, and practice, 2021

This chapter reviews the state of the art in the study of caseworkers' psychosocial processes underlying the out-of-home placement decision following instances of child maltreatment by integrating existing literature on both child protection and social psychology.

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ផលប៉ះពាល់នៃជំងឺកូវីដ១៩ លើមណ្ឌលថែទាំកុមារ ដែល មានដំណើរការ និងទទួលបានមូលនិធិគាំទ្រពីឯកជន

Better Care Network, Law Futures Centre - Griffith Law School, World Childhood Foundation, Eriks Development Partner, 2021

This study was a small-scale piece of qualitative research that involved 21 semistructured interviews with founders, funders, and directors of RCIs across 7 countries. It was designed to better understand the impacts of COVID-19 on the operations of residential care institutions including funding, staffing, volunteering, children’s care, education, family connection and reintegration.

Impact of COVID-19 on Privately Run Residential Care Institutions Case Study 1: Futures Children's Centre

Eriks Development Partner, Kinnected, Better Care Network, World Childhood Foundation, Griffith University, 2021

This case study is drawn from the Impact of COVID-19 on Privately Run Residential Care Institutions Study. It presents a summary of the account given by one participant.

Impact of COVID-19 on Privately Run and Funded Residential Care Institutions: Summary Briefing Paper

Better Care Network, Law Futures Centre - Griffith Law School, World Childhood Foundation, Eriks Development Partner, 2021

This briefing paper draws on data and findings from the report: Impact of COVID-19 on Privately Run Residential Care Institutions: Insights and Implications for Advocacy and Awareness Raising.

Thai version

Child care institutions in India: Investigating issues and challenges in children’s rehabilitation and social integration

Evergreat Wanglar - Children and Youth Services Review, 31 Dec 2020

This study aimed to unravel the different issues and challenges that hinder the effective rehabilitation of children in child care institutions in India.

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What does research tell us about young people’s participation in decision making in residential care? A systematic scoping review

Lynne McPherson, Meaghan Vosz, Kathomi Gatwiri, Natalie Parmenter, Noel Macnamara, Janise Mitchell, Joe Tucci - Children and Youth Services Review, 29 Dec 2020

This article reports on a systematic scoping review which investigated research publications on participation in making life-impacting decisions by young people.

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Community-based participatory research with at-risk youth: lessons learned from a Photovoice project in Taiwan

Victor Hsiao, Sunya Chen, Mellissa Withers - Journal of Health and Caring Sciences, 18 Dec 2020

Thirteen youth from a group home in Taiwan for teenage boys in the foster care and juvenile justice systems participated in this yearlong study which utilized a strengths-based approach to examine resiliency, their needs, and sources of support. This article describes nine key lessons learned to keep at-risk youth at the center of future similar research studies through protecting, representing, and empowering them.

Orphanage Trafficking and Child Protection in Emergencies in Nepal: A Comparative Analysis of the 2015 Earthquake and the 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic

Martin Punaks and Samjyor Lama - Institutionalised Children Explorations and Beyond, 15 Dec 2020

This article compares and contrasts two humanitarian emergencies and their impact on Nepal: these are the Nepal earthquake in 2015 and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.