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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Perception of social climate by welfare/justice-involved girls in out-of-home placement centers

Mylène Pellerin, Geneviève Parent, Nadine Lanctôt - Children and Youth Services Review, 31 Oct 2019

This study aims to explore whether the social climate is perceived more positively by adolescent girls who participate in the Caring and Just Community Approach (CJCA), compared to those who participated in the cognitive behavioral approach (CBA).

Peer influences moderated by group home size: Retrospective cohort of youths in Ontario group home care, 2012 to 2016

Gershon K. Osei, Kevin M. Gorey - Children and Youth Services Review, 31 Oct 2019

This study tested the hypothesis that group home size moderates peer influence-conduct problem relationships such that large homes with many residents are relatively risky places, while smaller homes with fewer residents are relatively protected places.

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Indigenous Children and Young People in Residential Care: A Systematic Scoping Review

Kathomi Gatwiri, Lynne McPherson, Natalie Parmenter, Nadine Cameron, Darlene Rotumah - Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 30 Oct 2019

This article provides an overview of literature investigating the needs of Indigenous children in residential care facilities in Australia.

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María Dosil, Joana Jaureguizar, and Elena Bermaras - The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 18 Oct 2019

This study had three goals: (1) To analyze the prevalence of dating violence in adolescents under residential care settings according to sex and age; (2) to explore the relationships between victimization and perpetration in adolescents’ dating violence, sexist attitudes and clinical variables; and (3) to identify variables associated to adolescents’ dating violence (victimization and perpetration).

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Maltreatment and Delinquency: Examining the Contexts of Offending Amongst Child Protection-Involved Children

Susan Baidawi, Rosemary Sheehan - The British Journal of Social Work, 14 Oct 2019

Child protection-involved children experience disproportionately high criminal justice system contact, yet little is known about the circumstances in which such children offend. This study sought to identify the contexts in which this group of children offend and factors associated with children being charged in each context.

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Exploring the Pathways between Care and Custody for Girls and Women

Claire Fitzpatrick, Katie Hunter, Jo Staines & Julie Shaw, 01 Oct 2019

This targeted literature review seeks to explore how to disrupt the routes between care and custody for girls and women, examining the over-representation of care experienced individuals in criminal justice settings.

Analysis of the child protection system in Bulgaria: Final Report (English)

UNICEF, 01 Oct 2019

This research is based on a stock-taking of the current situation. It is based on a comprehensive literature review and a genuine primary research with service users as well as policy makers, service providers, children and families.

A study on existing and new options of alternative family care for children and adolescents

Changing the Way We Care, 30 Sep 2019

This report from Changing the Way We Care reviews the range of available alternative care options in Guatemala and offers recommendations for additional alternative care modalities as well as deinstitutionalization and family preservation practices.

Nightmares and flashbacks: The impact of commercial sexual exploitation of children among female adolescents placed in residential care

Nadine Lanctôt, Joan A. Reid, Catherine Laurier - Child Abuse & Neglect, 30 Sep 2019

This study aimed to assess differences in the level of post-traumatic symptoms reported by those who experienced commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) during adolescence and those who did not.

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Country Care Review: Myanmar

Better Care Network, 19 Sep 2019

This country care review highlights the care-related Concluding Observations from the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.