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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Social care common inspection framework (SCCIF): children’s homes

Ofsted, 29 Mar 2019

This inspection framework, developed by the UK's Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted), provides guidance about how children’s homes are inspected, for use from April 2019.

Part 1: Forced Child–Family Separations in the Southwestern U.S. Border Under the “Zero-Tolerance” Policy: Preventing Human Rights Violations and Child Abduction into Adoption

Carmen Monico, Karen S. Rotabi, Justin Lee - Journal of Human Rights and Social Work, 26 Mar 2019

This article focuses on the “zero-tolerance” policy adopted in spring, 2018, in the USA. The implementation of this policy resulted in the forced separation of children from their families and the violation of human rights of those detained in authorized facilities and foster care.

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Leaving Care and the Transition to Adulthood: International Contributions to Theory, Research, and Practice

Varda R. Mann-Feder and Martin Goyette (Eds), 25 Mar 2019

This book offers a comprehensive overview of the newest contributions to the literature on leaving care in relation to theory, in addition to the Theory of Emerging Adulthood, while also featuring cutting-edge research and best practices that support adjustment across a range of domains for this population.

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Psychological Adjustment of Adolescents in Residential Care: Comparative Analysis of Youth Self-Report/Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire

Sónia Rodrigues, Maria Barbosa-Ducharne, Jorge F. Del Valle, Joana Campos - Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, 22 Mar 2019

This study aims to analyze the comparative effectiveness of Youth Self-Report (YSR) and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) as screening tools of psychological (mal)adjustment, looking for differences in the way psychological problems and difficulties are identified by these two measures in adolescents in residential care (RC).

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Opening Doors for Europe's Children 2018 Country Factsheet: Poland