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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Psychological adjustment, attachment difficulties, and perceptions of family relationships in adopted and institution-reared children: The case of Chile

Pamela Jiménez-Etcheverría & Jesús Palacios - Children and Youth Services Review, 28 May 2020

The first aim of this study was to examine differences in the socio-emotional functioning of adopted and institution-reared children in Chile. The second aim of this study was to examine the influence of adoption related variables on the psychological adjustment of adopted children.

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Caring for children left behind in residential care during covid19

Suman Khadka and Buthdy Sem - UNICEF Cambodia, 25 May 2020

This article from UNICEF Cambodia describes how UNICEF and its partners are responding to the needs of children in residential care during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Subjective Well-Being of Children in Care: Comparison Between Portugal and Catalonia

João M. S. Carvalho, Paulo Delgado, Carme Montserrat, Joan Llosada-Gistau & Ferran Casas - Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, 24 May 2020

This study aims at comparing subjective well-being (SWB) of children in residential care and in foster families in two European territories or jurisdictions: Portugal and Catalonia (Spain).

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Pedagogical devices as children’s social care levers: A study of social care workers’ attitudes towards boarding schools to care for and educate children in need

David Murphy, Mary Oliver, Sanam Pourhabib, Michael Adkins, Jeremy Hodgen - British Educational Research Journal, 19 May 2020

In this study, the authors interviewed social care practitioners including directors, senior and middle managers, frontline social workers, social worker‐academics and family support workers who work with vulnerable children to identify the issues and concerns held by social care workers about placing vulnerable children in boarding schools.

Child protection and secondary victimization: The Greek paradox

Stella P. Papamichail - Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience & Mental Health, 15 May 2020

This article argues that Greece's use of closed-type institutions for child protection is violation of children’s rights and a practice of secondary victimization, stigmatization and exclusion of children living in these institutions.

Attachment development in children adopted from China: the role of pre-adoption care and sensitive adoptive parenting

Chloë Finet, Theodore E. A. Waters, Harriet J. Vermeer, Marinus H. Van IJzendoorn, Marian J. Bakermans-Kranenburg, Guy Bosmans - Attachment & Human Development, 12 May 2020

The current study examined the attachment development of 92 internationally adopted Chinese girls, focusing on the influence of type of pre-adoption care (institutional versus foster care) and sensitive adoptive parenting.

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Consideraciones durante la pandemia de COVID-19 para el manejo de casos de niños, niñas y adolescentes bajo cuidado de abrigo y protección residencial

Changing the Way We Care, 11 May 2020

Esta guía debe considerarse para: niños, niñas y adolescentes que actualmente viven en un entorno de protección residencial, lo cual incluye a aquellos que han sido colocados antes y después del inicio de la pandemia de COVID-19.

Case management considerations for children in residential care during COVID-19 pandemic

Changing the Way We Care, 11 May 2020

This guidance should be considered for children who currently live in a residential setting, including those that have been placed in residential care before and after the onset of COVID-19 pandemic.

Key Messages and Guidance to Prevent and Respond to COVID-19

Changing the Way We Care, 01 May 2020

This document features key messages including critical information about keeping children safe and healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic. The messages are designed for use by country child protection actors, such as public child protection officers, directors of residential care facilities and government and civil society actors that work with vulnerable children and families.

Skin disorders among children living in orphanage centres in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Mwanaidi Amiri, Francis F. Furia and Muhammad Bakari - Tropical Medicine and Health, 30 Apr 2020

This study was carried out to determine the pattern of dermatological conditions and contributing factors among children living in orphanages in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.