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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Global prevalence of institutional care for children: a call for change

Charles H Zeanah and Kathryn L Humphreys - The Lancet, 06 Mar 2020

This comment piece by Charles H Zeanah and Kathryn L Humphreys accompanies a study on the number of children in institutional care around the globe, entitled 'Prevalence and number of children living in institutional care: global, regional, and country estimates,' published in the Lancet in March 2020.

Prevalence and number of children living in institutional care: global, regional, and country estimates

Chris Desmond, Kathryn Watt, Anamika Saha, Jialin Huang, Chunling Lu - The Lancet, 06 Mar 2020

The aim of this study was to estimate global-level, regional-level, and country-level numbers and percentages of children living in institutional care.

Addressing the most damaged adolescents in the child protection system: An analysis of the profiles of young people in therapeutic residential care

A. Águila-Otero, A. Bravo, I. Santos, J. F. Del Valle - Children and Youth Services Review, 04 Mar 2020

The goal of this study is to analyze the profile of 353 adolescents in TRC in Spain.

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Survivors’ lived experiences of posttraumatic growth after institutional childhood abuse: An interpretative phenomenological analysis

Grace Sheridan & Alan Carr - Child Abuse & Neglect, 03 Mar 2020

The purpose of this study was to examine the lived experiences of posttraumatic growth (PTG) in adult survivors of institutional childhood abuse in Ireland.

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Pre-legislative public consultation on financial redress for historical child abuse in care: Analysis of responses

Simon Anderson, Dawn Griesbach, Becki Lancaster, Alison Platts and Jennifer Waterton - Scottish Government, 01 Mar 2020

This report presents findings from an independent analysis of the responses to a public consultation issued by the Scottish Government in September 2019, which invited views on its specific proposals for the establishment of a statutory financial redress scheme for victims / survivors of abuse in care.

Mapping the European Contribution to the Institutionalisation of Children Overseas

Ruth Taylor, Blandine Champagneur, and Frank Seidel - ReThink Orphanages European Hub, 01 Mar 2020

Significant anecdotal evidence suggests that other countries across Europe also make a considerable contribution to the supply chain of people, money and resources that continue to sustain and foster the orphanage industry worldwide. This report seeks to map the contribution of the three countries in Europe with the largest volunteer travel markets: The United Kingdom, Germany and France.

Honneth and positive identity formation in residential care

Gerry Marshall, Karen Winter, & Danielle Turney - Child & Family Social Work, 01 Mar 2020

This paper contributes to the growing body of work which argues that residential child care is a positive choice and that it has a key role to play in positive identity formation.

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Prevalence and predictors of emotional and behavioral problems among institutionalized children in Kandy District, Sri Lanka

Pabasari Ginige, Anuradha Baminiwatta, Hasara Jayawardana - Child Abuse & Neglect, 28 Feb 2020

The purpose of this study was to investigate the emotional and behavioral problems of children living in child care institutions (CCIs) in Kandy District, Sri Lanka, and to explore associated factors.

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Autobiographical Memory Impairment in Adolescents in Out-of-Home Care

María Verónica Jimeno, Jose Miguel Latorre, María José Cantero - Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 24 Feb 2020

In this study, autobiographical memory tests, working memory, and a depressive symptom assessment were administered to 48 adolescents in care with a history of maltreatment (22 abused and 26 neglected) without mental disorder, who had been removed from their family and were living in residential child care, and to 61 adolescents nonmaltreated who had never been placed in care.

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Looked after children: out of area, unregulated and unregistered accommodation (England)

David Foster - UK House of Commons Library, 19 Feb 2020

This briefing provides information on two separate but related topics concerning looked after children in England: out of area and distant placements and unregulated and unregistered accommodation