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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The United Nations Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty

Manfred Nowak, 20 Nov 2019

The aim of this study was to comprehend the magnitude of the situation of children deprived of liberty, its possible justifications and root causes, as well as conditions of detention and their harmful impact on the health and development of children.

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Predictors of the quality of the relationship with caregivers in residential care

Mónica Costa, Beatriz Melim, Semira Tagliabue, Catarina Pinheiro Motab, Paula Mena Matos - Children and Youth Services Review, 20 Nov 2019

This study aims to analyze different level predictors (sociodemographic and institutional history-related, emotional/relational and contextual level) of the quality of the relationship between adolescents and their caregivers, in a sample of 326 adolescent participants (228 female and 98 male) from 20 residential care institutions.

A Dead End for Children: Bulgaria’s Group Homes

Eric Rosenthal, Dragana Ciric Milovanovic, Laurie Ahern - Disability Rights International, 19 Nov 2019

The main finding of this report from Disability Rights International (DRI) is that Bulgaria has replaced a system of large, old orphanages with newer, smaller buildings that are still operating as institutions.

Improving Academic Accomplishments of Youth in Residential Education and Care in Israel: Implementing a Policy Change

Emmanuel Grupper & Yossef Zagury - Education in Out-of-Home Care, 09 Nov 2019

This chapter from the book Education in Out-of-Home Care examines a policy change to affect the overall ecology of youth villages (Israeli residential schools), aimed at emphasizing high school academic achievements as a key to future success.

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Different Perceptions Regarding the Education of Children in Care: The Perspectives of Teachers, Caregivers and Children in Residential Care

Carme Montserrat, Joan Llosada-Gistau, Ferran Casas, Rosa Sitjes - Education in Out-of-Home Care, 09 Nov 2019

This chapter from the book Education in Out-of-Home Care assesses a pilot project aimed at improving the school-based learning of children in residential care in Austria, Croatia, France, Germany and Spain.

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Exploiting Administrative Data to Understand the Mental Health of Children Known to Social Services

Sarah McKenna, Aideen Maguire, Dermot O'Reilly - The International Journal of Population Data Science (IJPDS), 08 Nov 2019

The aim of this study is to examine mental ill-health amongst children known to social services based on care exposure including those who remain at home, those placed in foster care, kinship care or institutional care and the general population not known to social services.

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Ecological Engagement in a Children’s Shelter in Espírito Santo, Brazil

Edinete Maria Rosa, et al - Ecological Engagement, 05 Nov 2019

The objective of the work described in this chapter was to know the daily routine of a shelter for children aged 0 to 6 located in Espírito Santo and understand the factors involved in the psychosocial development of children in foster care.

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Ecological Engagement in Institutional Care Context: An Experience Report with Adolescents in Pernambuco

Larissa Morélia Sá Vieira Macêdo, Kalina Vanderlei Silva, Débora Maria dos Santos Pinheiro de Lima, Lygia Maria Pereira da Silva - Ecological Engagement, 05 Nov 2019

This chapter’s aim is to report the experience of using Ecological Engagement in a research of interdisciplinary character developed with teenage girls, aged 10–14, inserted in two care institutions for protection measures in Pernambuco state, Brazil.

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Clinico-Epidemiological Profile of Children Orphaned due to AIDS Residing in Care Giving Institutions in Coastal South India

Rekha Thapar, et al - AIDS Research and Treatment, 03 Nov 2019

In this cross-sectional study 86 children orphaned by AIDS residing in care giving institutions for HIV positive children in Mangalore were assessed for their clinico-epidemiological profile and nutritional status.

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Child Safe Programming and Safeguarding in Interim Care Centres

Save the Children, 02 Nov 2019

This document outlines some of the potential risks children face in Interim Care Centres and suggests how to manage them to ensure that children are as safe as possible.