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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Gender Intersectionality and Family Separation, Alternative Care and the Reintegration of Children

Family Care First (FCF) and Responsive and Effective Child Welfare Systems Transformation (REACT), 27 Aug 2019

This study from Family Care First (FCF) and Responsive and Effective Child Welfare Systems Transformation (REACT) utilized a mixed method approach to data gathering and analysis to understand the effects of gender, identity, and institutional practices on the well-being of children in alternative care in Cambodia.

Predictors of Better Functioning among Institutionalized Youth: A Systematic Review

Anna W. Wright, Simron Richard, David W. Sosnowski, Wendy Kliewer - Journal of Child and Family Studies, 26 Aug 2019

The goal of this paper was to review and critique the literature examining predictors of better-than-expected adjustment of children who have experienced institutional care.

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Examining the Influence of Individual Guidance and Counseling Services on the Self-Efficacy of Children Living in Orphanages in Bungoma County

Benson M. Nasongo; James Kay; Bernard Chemwei - Editon Consortium Journal of Psychology, Guidance, and Counseling (ECJPGC), 25 Aug 2019

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of individual guidance and counselling services on the self-efficacy of orphaned children living in orphanages in Bungoma County, Kenya.

The Influence of Youth Gender and Complex Trauma on the Relation Between Treatment Conditions and Outcomes in Therapeutic Residential Care

Lauren H. K. Stanley & Shamra Boel-Studt - Journal of Child & Adolescent Trauma, 22 Aug 2019

This study examined the effects of trauma-informed residential care and the relation between complex trauma (CT) and gender.

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General public perceptions and motivations to adopt children from out-of-home care in New South Wales, Australia

Betty Luu, Amy Conley Wright, and Melanie Randle - Children Australia, 19 Aug 2019

For this study, a general sample of the New South Wales (NSW) public completed an online survey about adoption practices and their willingness to consider adopting from out-of-home care, with background questions on perceived social support and life satisfaction.

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Psychosocial Challenges Faced by Children in Residential Care Facilities

J. C. Makhubele, A. T. Mukushi, V. Mabvurira, F. K. Matlakala - Southern African Journal of Social Work and Social Development, 08 Aug 2019

This study sought to examine the psychosocial challenges facing children in residential childcare facilities in the Mashonaland Central province, Zimbabwe.

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Sex differences in psychological distress, behavioural and emotional problems, and substance use in young people in out‐of‐home care

Sue M. Cotton, Simon Rice, Kristen Moeller‐Saxone, Anne Magnus, Carol Harvey, Cathy Mihalopoulos, Cathy Humphreys, Lenice Murray, Steve Halperin, Patrick D. McGorry, Helen Herrman - Child & Family Social Work, 08 Aug 2019

The aim of the study was to examine sex differences in self‐reported psychological distress, behavioural and emotional problems, and substance use in young people living in out‐of‐home care (OoHC) in metropolitan Melbourne, Australia.

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Who do they think they are: Making sense of self in residential care, foster care, and adoption

Mariela Neagu, Judy Sebba - Children and Youth Services Review, 03 Aug 2019

This article explores how the type of placement in children's social care influences identity formation and contact with the birth family. It draws on 40 life history interviews with Romanian-born, care experienced young people who entered adulthood from different types of placement: 16 from residential care, eight from foster care, seven from domestic adoption and nine from intercountry adoption.

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Adolescent males in out-of- home care: Past adversity and current functioning

Elisa Romano, Jessie Moorman, Véronique Bonneville, Carl Newton, Robert Flynn - Developmental Child Welfare, 02 Aug 2019

The current study examines past adverse experiences and current functioning of adolescent males in out-of-home care, relying on data from the Assessment and Action Record—second Canadian version for a representative sample of 508 12- to 17-year-olds in out-of-home care across the province of Ontario (Canada).

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The Effect of Perceived Maternal Acceptance-Rejection on Mental Illness among Orphaned Adolescents in Indonesia

Winarini W. Mansoer, Raissa Dwifandra Putri, Nessi Sulaiman - Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, 01 Aug 2019

The aim of the present quantitative study is to examine how perceived maternal acceptance-rejection contributes to the risk of mental illness in orphaned adolescents.